The COVID-19 pandemic will result in the biggest annual drop in energy investments on record—nearly US$400 billion, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its new World Energy Investment 2020 report on Wednesday. Before the coronavirus-driven crisis, the IEA had expected global energy investment to increase this year by 2 percent to what would have been the biggest yearly rise in investment in six years. However, the pandemic and the economic downturn resulting from it will lead to a 20-percent plunge in investments in the energy sector, equal to almost US$400 billion. The oil and gas sector will see the steepest decline in investment this year compared to last year, the IEA has estimated. Investment in oil and gas is set to plunge by US$244.1 billion, or by nearly one-third, in 2020 compared to 2019. “The shale industry was already under pressure, and investor confidence and access to capital […]