Emergency measures such as working from home, lower speed limits and car-free Sundays in cities should be used to cut oil demand and avert a "crippling" supply crisis caused by the war in Ukraine, the International Energy Agency has said. It also suggested business flights are curbed, public transport made cheaper or free and that motorists set their cars’ air conditioning systems to 3 degrees warmer in summer.
The measures are part of a ten-point plan designed to cut fuel usage in order to avoid the "biggest oil supply shock in decades", reports The Times. Sanctions and boycotts of Russian oil are likely to remove 2.5 million barrels a day from the markets, creating "a real risk that markets tighten further and oil prices escalate significantly in the coming months" as demand for oil typically peaks in July and August, the agency said.
Oil prices hit $139 a barrel earlier this month, although the international benchmark Brent Crude was trading 1.2 per cent higher at $107.93 a barrel in New York on Friday night (March 18). It is believed such measures would cut global oil demand by 2.7 million barrels a day within four months.
"Oil markets are in an emergency situation. And it may get worse," Fatih Birol, the agency’s executive director, said. "The world may well be facing its biggest oil-supply shock in decades, with huge implications for our economies and societies."
Founded in 1974, the agency has 31 members that include Britain, America, Germany, Japan, Norway and Australia. Birol called on members to "take action on demand to avoid the risk of a crippling oil crunch". Many of the measures are aimed at reducing driving, including working from home three days a week, which has been "proven successful in many cases" during lockdown and could save 500,000 barrels of oil a day.
Car-free Sundays could save around 380,000 barrels a day and access to cities could also be restricted to even or odd-numbered registration plates on alternate weekdays. Other recommendations include cutting speed limits by at least 10km/h, saving 290,000 barrels of oil a day for cars and a further 140,000 from HGVs.
The agency suggests an increased use of car-sharing and other measures to optimise fuel usage, including urging drivers to restrict their use of air-conditioning systems, which account for four to 10 per cent of total fuel consumption.
"For those car users who can, we therefore propose a temporary 3C increase in the temperature setting to give an immediate improvement in fuel economy and cut fuel bills," it said. Around two in every five business flights could be avoided by using virtual meetings as an "effective substitute", saving about 260,000 barrels of oil a day, and about two per cent of all journeys made by jet could be shifted to highspeed rail, the agency proposed.
It said that the world’s advanced economies accounted for 45 per cent of global oil demand. "Demand restraint is one of the emergency response measures that all member countries are required to have ready as a contingency at all times, and that they can use to contribute to an IEA collective action in an emergency," it said. The agency has co-ordinated the release of emergency oil stocks by its members to help to ease prices.
A government spokesman said: "There is absolutely no need to apply this guidance in the UK, and the recommendations are not under consideration. We have no issues with either gas or oil supply. Unlike Europe we are not dependent on Russian energy imports."
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea.
