$147 a barrel? Seems a long way off now, particularly after crude fell to a 20-month low of $58-a-barrel last week. But procurement professionals won’t need reminding of the pain that sky-high prices brought and, after a warning from the International Energy Agency (IEA), their memories could soon receive a further jolt.

The IEA has claimed that credit crunch induced delays in investment in new oil-seeking projects was putting the world “on a bad path” – hardly what most businesses wanted to hear just as oil prices appeared to be easing.

This stark message – from a body which has previously been extremely critical of OPEC’s cost-orientated approach to production – should act as a wake-up call for global industry.

“We hear almost every day about a project being postponed," said Fatih Birol, the IEA’s chief economist. "This is a major problem.” And it’s a problem that world leaders will need to address if the dramatic price increases seen this summer aren’t to become a regular occurance.