RIYADH: Governments could ease the oil shortage caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine by restricting how people use their cars, the International Energy Agency has said.
In a report released on Friday, the IEA called for lower speed limits, more working from home, and placing occasional limits on car access to city centers as part of the way to reduce dependency on oil.
It also suggested making public transport cheaper, encouraging carpooling, a greater use of high-speed rail and virtual meetings instead of air travel.
All this comes as part of the French agency’s 10-point plan to curtail oil demand.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has caused big jumps in oil prices, prompting an urgent search for alternative sources of energy.
There could be disruptions of oil supplies with buyers shunning trade with Moscow, despite most countries not banning Russian oil imports, except for the US and UK.
Analysis by the IEA showed measures implemented this year by the EU could bring down gas imports from Russia by over one-third, with additional temporary options to deepen these cuts to well over half while still lowering emissions.
The Paris-based agency anticipates a 3 million barrel-a-day loss of Russian production for April, Bloomberg reported.
This could be offset as advanced economies could reduce their daily oil demand by 2.7 million barrels within four months, IEA said.