Global Issues: Energy and terrorism

The IEA's own history records that it was founded in November 1974 within the framework of the OECD, in the wake of the 1973-74 oil crisis, to coordinate responses to major oil supply disruptions. Its core treaty is the Agreement on an International Energy Program (IEP). The Iranian Revolution came later, in 1979, and the Suez Crisis earlier, in 1956.

The IEA records that it has coordinated six collective responses since 1991, and that the largest ever was announced in March 2026, when members unanimously agreed to release 400 million barrels from emergency stocks to offset disruption from the near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Earlier actions answered the 1991 Gulf War, Hurricane Katrina (2005), the Libyan war (2011) and the Russia-Ukraine war (two actions in 2022). Such releases are only possible because members hold stocks equal to at least 90 days of net imports.

The International Energy Forum (IEF) brings together both producers (OPEC members) and consumers (IEA members) along with major emerging economies such as India and China; its permanent secretariat is in Riyadh. India hosted IEF16 in New Delhi on 10-12 April 2018, with China and Korea as co-hosts, under the theme 'The Future of Global Energy Security'. The IEF also coordinates the Joint Organisations Data Initiative (JODI).

All three are correct. IRENA was founded at a conference in Bonn on 26 January 2009, where 75 states signed its Statute. India signed on 17 March 2009 as the 77th signatory and is counted among the founding members. The Statute entered into force on 8 July 2010. Abu Dhabi was chosen as the interim seat in June 2009 and became the permanent headquarters (headquarters agreement with the UAE signed in 2012); Bonn hosts the IRENA Innovation and Technology Centre.

Statement 1 is correct: MoPNG records that on 30 March 2017 India announced the activation of Association status with the IEA. Statement 2 is wrong: the 90-day stockholding obligation comes from the IEP Agreement and binds full Member countries, which must also be OECD members. Association countries take part in IEA work on energy security and data without that legal obligation. Hence 1 only.

The phrase is associated with Chinese President Hu Jintao (2003) and describes China's worry that most of its imported crude from West Asia and Africa passes through the narrow Strait of Malacca, which could be blocked in a crisis by a stronger naval power. China's responses include overland pipelines through Myanmar and Central Asia, the Gwadar link in Pakistan and a larger navy. India's position near the western mouth of the Strait, including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, gives it leverage.

Recommendation 8 deals with non-profit organisations: countries must apply focused, risk-based measures so that NPOs are not abused for terrorist financing. In June 2019 the FATF made binding changes to Recommendation 15 and its interpretive note, requiring countries to license or register and supervise virtual asset service providers (including the 'travel rule' for transfers). Statement 3 is wrong: the Recommendations are 'soft law': a policy standard enforced through peer review (mutual evaluations) and public listing, not a treaty. Hence 1 and 2 only.

JODI began in 2000 as a cooperation among international organisations to collect and publish monthly oil (and later gas) data reported by national administrations, so that markets work with better information and less price volatility. The IEF in Riyadh coordinates it, and the heads of JODI partners meet every two years alongside the IEF Ministerial, as they did in New Delhi in April 2018. It does not release stocks, set prices or handle carbon inventories.