At least six months needed to restore oil supplies from Gulf - report

The recovery of oil supplies from the Persian Gulf may take at least six months, head of the International Energy Agency (IEA) Fatih Birol said.

According to him, the war in the Middle East is "the greatest global energy security threat in history" and it would take time "to have oil and gas rehabilitated," Financial Times reported.

"It will be six months for some [sites] to be operational, others much longer," Fatih Birol said.

Politicians and markets were underestimating the scale of the disruption, as roughly one-fifth of global oil and gas supplies is in effect stranded in the Middle East region, the IEA chief stressed.