IEA to review all conditions for India's membership: Fatih Birol

Fatih Birol, executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), said it would review all its membership conditions for India's inclusion in the world's premier energy monitoring organization

- Rituraj Baruah & Utpal Bhaskar

In an interview, Birol said when discussions happen between the organization and the Indian government, IEA will assess whether India needs to make additional efforts or more flexibility is required.

Meanwhile, IEA released its medium-term oil market report for 2023 on Wednesday, predicting a 6% increase in global oil demand between 2022 and 2028, reaching 105.7 million barrels per day by 2028. On the frequent output cuts by Opec+, Birol said countries should be "very careful" while taking decisions relating to the oil market as they might impact global economic recovery. Edited excerpts:

IEA, for a long time, has wanted India to become a member. How do you see this relationship going forward?

India, along with Brazil, South Africa, and China, is a so-called associate member of IEA, and it is a big strength of the International Energy Agency. In the year 2015 when I became the head of IEA, I came up with a strategy for opening the doors of IEA to the emerging world. Until that time, it was only limited to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries, and we are very happy that the share of IEA countries, which was about 4% in the global energy consumption, is now over 80%.