With fossil fuels set to meet most of the increased global demand for energy, the IEA warned yesterday that climate change targets are at risk and conflicts could still wreak havoc with supplies.
“The global energy system is in danger of falling short of the hopes and expectations placed upon it,” the International Energy Agency said in its World Energy Outlook 2014 report.
The Paris-based body, which advises industrial oil consuming nations, forecasted global energy demand will grow 37 per cent by 2040, with fossil fuels key to meeting that increased demand despite concerns about global warming.
It warned global energy security is at risk in the oil market as “reliance grows on a relatively small number of producers.”
It noted that the Middle East “remains the only large source of low-cost oil”, but conflict in the region “has rarely been greater since the oil shocks in the 1970s” that left consuming countries desperately short of fuel supplies.
While oil prices are currently at four-year lows, it sees them rising as demand increases from 90 million barrels per day in 2013 to 104 mbd in 2040.
