London, July 16 -- Global crude oil inventories are declining, degrading one of the world's key safeguards against what has become the world's largest oil supply disruption in modern history, the International Energy Agency (IEA) has warned.
"The global economy is not off the hook yet," IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol told CNN.
According to Birol, countries have managed to offset the loss of oil supplies from West Asia by increasing production elsewhere.
Alternative export routes, including Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, have also helped limit the impact on global markets and prevent even sharper rises in oil prices.
"But this cannot last very long because global crude stocks are going down," he cautioned.
The world has relied h...