War in the Middle East ‘reshaping’ energy investment strategies globally: IEA

The conflict in the Middle East is pushing governments to find new supply routes and turn to domestic resources to brave the world’s biggest energy crisis, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Thursday.

“We are in the midst of the largest energy security crisis the world has ever faced… and I believe this will reshape investment strategies globally, with parallels to the major changes the energy world witnessed after the oil shocks of the 1970s,” said IEA executive director Fatih Birol.

“We are already seeing intensified efforts by both producer and consumer countries to diversify trade routes and energy sources,” he said.

The efforts include advancing new pipelines and other supply infrastructure and turning to domestically available resources.