"The IEF, which is aware of the grave situation, will work closely with oil producing and consuming countries on the whole range of energy-related issues, promote dialogue and energy security," said Aldo Flores-Quiroga, new IEF secretary-general, here Friday.

Flores-Quiroga, who joined the IEF on Jan. 5 for a four-year term, said that "the forum has powers under the mandate of its charter to convene a meeting of energy ministers of its 88 member countries to discuss Iranian intransigence with special reference to Hormuz."

"But, we will not do so because the crisis is being handled by the international community quite efficiently," he said.

The IEF chief said that the forum has its own concerns about the situation in the strait and the region at large. IEF will hold its three-day ministerial meeting beginning March 12 in Kuwait.

"The Kuwait meeting will have a full agenda," said the IEF chief, while referring to the new challenges facing the global energy sector. He also advocated the idea of transparency, while calling the Joint Oil Data Initiative (JODI) as a major step in this direction.

He said that JODI had emerged as a major global initiative, which was recently redesigned to improve ease of use and accessibility. Organizations and participating countries are working on an expanded JODI questionnaire, agreed at the 6th JODI conference that disaggregates the existing flows and products.