The U.S. could face fuel shortages this summer and Europe could also suffer from fuel shortages, the head of the International Energy Agency said.

"When the main holiday season starts in Europe and the US, fuel demand will rise," Fatih Birol told Der Spiegel. "Then we could see shortages — for example, in diesel, petrol or kerosene, particularly in Europe."

Birol also said that the current energy crisis will be more serious and lasting than the oil price spikes of the 1970s, given that it is putting pressure on three fronts.

"Back then it was just about oil," he said in the interview published Tuesday. "Now we have an oil crisis, a gas crisis and an electricity crisis simultaneously."

Oil prices spiked in 1973 and 1979 when the Doomsday War and the Iranian Revolution interrupted crude oil exports from the Middle East. Geopolitical events hit the market again in 2022, when Western countries imposed sanctions against Russia.

Now oil, gas, and electricity prices are skyrocketing on both sides of the Atlantic, leading to a cost-of-living crisis.

Fuel shortages are more likely to occur in the summer because people drive more as they take getaways. This will likely push prices even higher in the coming months, Birol suggested.

Gasoline prices have hit record highs in recent weeks, with an average gallon costing $4.62 on Memorial Day, according to the American Automobile Association.

Meanwhile, the average price of electricity in the U.S. rose 6.1 percent over the past year, according to data from the Environmental Research Agency.

Crude oil was trading around two-month highs on Tuesday after the EU agreed to ban most Russian oil imports and China eased its COVID-19 restrictions, leading to hopes of a revival in demand from the economic powerhouse.