Turning back to Russian gas would be economically and politically wrong, says IEA chief

The head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) has cautioned Europe against returning to Russian gas supplies, warning that doing so would be both economically and politically misguided despite the current turmoil in global energy markets, according to a Reuters report.IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol said the ongoing Middle East crisis has prompted fresh debate in some quarters about whether Europe should resume buying gas from Russia.

“The current crisis in the Middle East has led to questions in some quarters about whether to go back to Russia or not,” Birol told reporters after a meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU commissioners to discuss global energy markets.Birol said such a move would repeat a major strategic mistake Europe made in the past by relying heavily on a single supplier for its energy needs.“One of Europe’s historical mistakes was the over-reliance of its energy sources on one single country, Russia,” he said.Earlier, US has temporarily eased sanctions on Russian oil to allow cargoes already stranded at sea to be delivered and sold to India.The US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued a Russia-related licence authorising the delivery and sale of crude oil and petroleum products of Russian Federation origin loaded on vessels as of March 5, 2026 to India, according to a Treasury statement.The authorisation allows transactions– including cargoes carried by vessels blocked under various sanctions regimes — until the end of April 3, 2026.US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the waiver was issued “to enable oil to keep flowing into the global market.”“This deliberately short-term measure will not provide significant financial benefit to the Russian government as it only authorizes transactions involving oil already stranded at sea,” he wrote in a post on X.Bessent added that allowing these shipments to reach India would “alleviate pressure caused by Iran’s attempt to take global energy hostage,” even as India has said it will stop purchasing Russian oil under a trade agreement with the United States.