Russia and Saudi Arabia risk hurting efforts to stop the spread of coronavirus if they insist on continuing an oil price war, the head of the International Energy Agency has warned, saying poorer crude exporting countries may struggle to cope as their revenues fall.
Fatih Birol, head of the Paris-based agency, branded the two leading oil producing nations “irresponsible” and accused them of callous disregard for the global threat of the virus, in the strongest condemnation yet of a price war that has helped to upend world markets this week.
“The world is facing a major challenge in fighting against coronavirus,” Mr Birol told the Financial Times. “I find it at best irresponsible that they are having a price war now. The people of the world will not forget who was on the side of fighting the virus, and which countries were on the side of making the fight much more difficult.”
