On August 22, 2018, in an oil field in Midland, Texas, the United States, an oil pumping unit worked in front of a drilling machine at sunset.
Nick Oxford | Reuters
Senior US lawmakers believe that the International Energy Agency has “deviated from its core mission of maintaining energy security” and has become a “cheerleader” for green transformation.
“We believe that in recent years the IEA has been undermining energy security by hindering adequate investment in energy supplies, particularly oil, gas and coal. Furthermore, its energy models no longer provide policymakers with an understanding of energy and Balanced assessment of climate proposals Instead, it has become a cheerleader for the ‘energy transition'” A letter dated March 20 statedwritten by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., ranking member of the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and U.S. Rep. Kathy McMorris Rogers, R-Wash., chair of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee.
The letter stated: “The IEA’s forecasts have a huge impact on how the world views future energy trends. Therefore, the IEA must fulfill its energy security mission in an objective manner. We believe that the IEA has failed to meet these responsibilities.” To IEA Executive Director Fatih ·Fatih Birol. “It is disturbing that biased parties are using the IEA’s forecasts and other products to advocate policies that undermine energy security.”
The IEA has played a pioneering role in advocating for global decarbonization and in a landmark 2021 analysis called for no new oil, gas or coal development if the world intends to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.
Among other things, the letter’s signatories accuse the IEA’s 2021 report of being “overly ambitious but lacking what matters most to policymakers: objective analysis of energy flows, trade patterns, security implications and economic impacts.”
They further asked about the IEA’s forecasting and modeling methods, as well as the scale of funding the agency receives from the United States. IEA does not fully reveal its donors, statement Its budget and scope of work are determined every two years by the Council and are made up of voluntary contributions from countries, energy stakeholders and private sources.
The IEA confirmed receipt of CNBC’s letter on Thursday and stressed that its mission remains to safeguard energy security and accelerate the clean energy transition.
“Against this backdrop, we welcome feedback on our work and place high value on dialogue with the U.S. Congress, where we regularly participate in hearings and provide expert testimony on a wide range of energy policy issues,” the company said in a statement.
“As part of the IEA’s long-term energy system modeling, we propose a number of scenarios based on different underlying assumptions about how the energy system evolves over time. As we highlight in our work, different scenarios “Aimed to help inform decision-making by showing the impact of different policy, technology and investment choices. These scenarios are not accurate predictions of what will happen.”
In particular, the International Energy Agency’s peak demand forecast has been repeatedly criticized publicly by heavyweight oil producer Saudi Arabia and members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. OPEC itself is no stranger to U.S. pressure, with the oil alliance’s de facto leader Saudi Arabia and the White House engaging in a brief but diplomatically visceral war of words over crude output cuts in late 2022. OPEC has also been targeted by Congress’ long-running and yet-to-be-enacted No Petroleum Producing and Exporting Cartels (NOPEC) bill.
The lawmakers’ letter comes seven months before the U.S. presidential election, where U.S. oil production has been breaking records and has historically been a sticking point for voters at home. Current US Democratic leader Joe Biden supports decarbonization, while Republican front-runner Donald Trump supports further drilling.American energy major Exxon MobilThe group is fighting activist investors over climate policy, but at the same time it touts the virtues of focusing on reducing emissions rather than eliminating the use of hydrocarbons.
The United States was Founding member of IEA In the 1970s, the Organization of the Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) declared an oil embargo on countries that supported Israel, and after the 1973 crisis, joined the mission to respond to the global oil shock. As part of their membership commitments, IEA countries must ensure they maintain oil stock levels equivalent to at least 90 days of net imports in order to respond in the event of global supply disruptions.
Two years ago, IEA members agreed to release the largest and fifth-ever release of oil stockpiles in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
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