IEA chief expects Russia to lose the energy battle, sees major difficulties for Moscow's exports

International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Fatih Birol believes Russia volition suffer its vigor warfare with the West, saying China and India's crude lipid purchases volition apt autumn abbreviated of offsetting the autumn successful shipments to Europe.

"Europe is having large economical problems, but for Russia, Europe was a very, precise important client," Birol told CNBC's Joumanna Bercetche astatine the World Economic Forum successful Davos, Switzerland.

Last week, an autarkic investigation from the Center for Research connected Energy and Clean Air showed that revenues from Russia's fossil substance exports collapsed successful December, importantly hampering President Vladimir Putin's quality to concern the warfare successful Ukraine.

The Finnish deliberation tank's report recovered that the archetypal period of the European Union's prohibition connected seaborne imports of Russian crude and the G-7′s terms headdress had outgo Moscow an estimated 160 cardinal euros ($173.4 million) per day.

It said that the Western measures were mostly liable for a 17% autumn successful Russia's net from fossil substance exports successful the last period of 2022. A spokesperson for Russia's Finance Ministry did not respond erstwhile asked to remark connected the report's findings.

Birol described Russia arsenic "the fig 1 vigor exporter to the world" anterior to Moscow's full-scale penetration of Ukraine connected Feb. 24 past year.

Roughly 75% of Russian state exports and 55% of its lipid exports went to Europe, Birol said, earlier the EU sought to rapidly wean itself disconnected Moscow's fossil fuels.

"So, to find a lawsuit for state and lipid truthful easy to regenerate Europe volition beryllium highly difficult," helium said. "I cognize that determination are immoderate countries successful Asia, [such as] China and India, that are benefitting from this situation, and they are buying a batch of Russian oil, but I would beryllium precise cautious to judge that those countries' imports will, some successful measurement presumption and gross terms, harvester to what Europe was doing."

"Russia volition look large difficulties some for lipid and state exports and, successful my view, erstwhile we look astatine the adjacent mates of quarters and years, Russia volition suffer the vigor battle," Birol said.