Australian energy and uranium in high demand after the Iran crisis - IEA

The head of the International Energy Agency stated on Tuesday that Australia is a vital source of minerals and can help to'stave off' a greater supply shock than the world faces right now due to the Iran War.

Fatih Birol is the executive director of the IEA. He said that the world was facing its worst energy shock ever due to the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran. The equivalent of 10,000,000 barrels of crude oil per day are being lost, according to Birol.

He said: "We will see that the 'energy security challenges' we face today are nothing compared to future critical minerals -challenges if we do not take the necessary steps to diversify critical?minerals in refinement and processing."

He said that China controls over 80% of global refining.

He said that it was good that the world had an energy provider that was reliable and didn't use energy to?as a weapon. He was speaking at the Minerals Week Conference in Canberra.

The world should thank Australia for its energy production, particularly uranium.

According to the Minerals Council of Australia, Australia has the largest uranium reserve in the world, which accounts for a third of the global supply. The?MCA stated that Australia was also the fourth largest uranium producer in the world, behind Kazakhstan, Canada, and Namibia. Australia banned the use of nuclear energy for its domestic energy production more than 25 years ago.

Birol said that there would be a global response to the crisis, and added that nations would turn to nuclear energy.

He said that small module reactors produced by the U.S.A., Britain France and South Korea would be one of the "benefits" from this policy.

He said that "Nuclear energy will return, and this will accelerate." "Australia is a major provider, so there will be opportunities." The increased demand for Australia's natural gas will also provide opportunities, due to the damage caused by Middle Eastern facilities.

He said, "So it is certain that more LNG will be imported from Australia."

He said that there will be an increase in the?demand for EVs. Australia is a rich source of minerals that are essential for EV batteries. The demand for copper in Australia will increase due to the electrification.

He said, "We need grids all over the world. This means copper." (Reporting and editing by Thomas Derpinghaus; Melanie Burton)

(source: Reuters)