International Energy Agency

Why in news?

• International Energy Agency (IEA) has invited India, the world's third-largest energy consumer, to become its full-time member – a proposal if accepted will require New Delhi to raise strategic oil reserves to 90 days requirement.

More about the news:

• India in March 2017 became an associate member of the Paris-based body which advises industrialised nations on energy policies.
• In January 2021, IEA members and India agreed to enter into a strategic partnership, strengthening their collaboration across a range of vital areas including energy security and clean energy transition.

About International Energy Agency:

• IEA is a Paris-based autonomous intergovernmental organisation established in the framework of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 1974 in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis.
• As a result, countries seeking to become members of the IEA must also be members of the OECD.
• The IEA was initially dedicated to responding to physical disruptions in the supply of oil, as well as serving as an information source on statistics about the international oil market and other energy sectors.
• But over the years, the IEA's mission has expanded substantially and today the agency is working with major economies around the world to enhance energy security and to help accelerate their clean energy transitions
• The Agency's mandate has broadened to focus on the "3Es" of effectual energy policy: energy security, economic development, and environmental protection.

Members and Association countries

• Currently IEA has 30 member countries (All of them are OECD countries).
• Starting in 2015, the IEA has been opening its doors to major emerging economies that are at the centre of the global conversation on energy.
• Since then, eight countries have joined the IEA's Association programme:
  • Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Morocco, Singapore, South Africa and Thailand.
• Now, IEA is made up of 30 member countries and eight associate nations.
• Four countries are seeking accession to full membership – Chile, Colombia, Israel and Lithuania.
• IEA now represents 75% of global energy demand.

Mandate on strategic oil reserve and demand restraint programme:

• According to IEA, a member country must maintain "crude oil and/or product reserves equivalent to 90 days of the previous year's net imports, to which the government has immediate access (even if it does not own them directly) and could be used to address disruptions to global oil supply." India's current strategic oil reserves equal 9.5 days of its requirement.
• Also, a member of IEA has to show a demand restraint programme to reduce national oil consumption by up to 10%.

Add ons:

• The IEA has a broad role in promoting alternate energy sources (including renewable energy), rational energy policies, and multinational energy technology co-operation.
• IEA publishes the annual ‘World Energy Outlook’ report.

PRACTICE QUESTION

With reference to ‘International Energy Agency’, consider the following statements:

1. To become a member of International Energy Agency, a country should eliminate all of its strategic oil reserves.

2. World Energy Outlook report is published by International Energy Agency

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

(a) 1 only

(b) 2 only

(c) Both 1 and 2

(d) Neither 1 nor 2

Answer