Eight members of the consortium of influential oil producing nations known as OPEC Plus expressed concern on Sunday about the toll the war with Iran was taking on global oil supplies and energy infrastructure in the region.
The group, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait, also said that it would raise its oil production quotas by 206,000 barrels a day next month, a largely symbolic move because Iran’s virtual blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has obstructed their shipping of oil to world markets.
“The committee stressed that any actions undermining energy supply security, whether through attacks on infrastructure or disruption of international maritime routes, increase market volatility,” the group said in its announcement. It added that “restoring damaged energy assets to full capacity is both costly and takes a long time.”
President Trump on Sunday threatened Iran with further devastation unless it took steps to open the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping lane that has become a linchpin of the war. In an expletive-laden post on Sunday, Mr. Trump ordered Iran to open the strait, “or you’ll be living in hell,” saying that Tuesday would be “power plant day, and bridge day, all wrapped in one.”
Several of the biggest oil-producing members of OPEC Plus have slashed oil production in the face of the severe shipping constraints.
By mid-March, Persian Gulf countries had taken an estimated 10 million barrels of daily oil production offline, or about 10 percent of global supplies, the International Energy Agency said. It forecast that the cuts would deepen as the conflict wore on.
As of Thursday, international oil prices had climbed roughly 50 percent, to $109 a barrel, since the United States and Israel started the war on Feb. 28.
The eight members of OPEC Plus member countries involved in Sunday’s decision were: Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria and Oman.
Benjamin Mullin reports for The Times on the major companies behind news and entertainment. Contact him securely on Signal at +1 530-961-3223 or at [email protected].
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