The International Energy Agency is warning of damaging price spikes in the 2020s if the current weak investment in new oil supply is left unchecked. The agency states that the average level of new conventional crude oil project approvals over the last three years is only half the amount necessary to balance the market out to 2025. It is also not entirely convinced that US shale oil can be relied upon to do all the heavy lifting. It says that America would need to add the equivalent of another Russia to global oil supply by 2025 to close the projected supply-demand gap.