Fatih Birol, the Executive Director of the IEA, said at a recent conference that the US will not become the “next Saudi Arabia”, despite its position among the world’s top oil producers.

“US oil production increased significantly and is due to continue to increase. This is excellent news for the United States and world oil markets. But we should realize that the United States will never be able to replace Saudi Arabia as a major oil exporter.” – As reported by the Telegraph

Birol maintains that traditional producers in the Gulf will continue to dominate global oil production in the years to come. He elaborated in his interview that he sees three major energy market challenges.

The first is energy security and the rising geopolitical tensions in oil and gas producing regions including ISIS in Iraq, and issues in Syria and Libya.

The second major issue is climate change, since the energy sector is responsible for two-thirds of the emissions associated with climate change it is imperative to resolve the CO2 emissions issues without harming economic growth.

The third and final challenge is outreach to global governments. Major energy demand is coming from Asia, but also from Latin America and it is important to have dialogue and coordination among the world’s energy producers and consumers.