At an energy conference in Tokyo on Thursday, International Energy Agency (IEA) director general Fatih Birol said that global oil investment are likely to continue declines for the third consecutive year as we head into 2017.

The International Energy Agency at its annual 'World Energy Outlook' said that oil demand will continue to grow until 2040 mainly due to a lack of “easy alternatives” to oil in road freight, aviation and petrochemicals. The agency noted that natural gas and renewable energy could lead the way in meeting global energy demand until 2040.

Energy markets have entered a period of greater volatility as investments in new production are declining for a third year. If we continue to see subdued investments in new conventional oil projects, this could have profound consequences in the longer term,” Birol said.

"Our analysis shows we are entering a period of greater oil price volatility (partly) as a result of three years in a row of global oil investments in decline: in 2015, 2016 and most likely 2017. This is the first time in the history of oil that investments are declining three years in a row," adding that this would cause "difficulties" in global oil markets in a few years." said IEA's Birol