Oil prices fall after crossing $110 - G7 countries consider using emergency reserves
Oil prices fell on Monday after reports that the Group of Seven nations, including the United States, planned to discuss a coordinated release of crude from their strategic reserves, following a sharp rise earlier in the day as the escalating war in the Middle East rocked global energy markets.
G7 finance ministers are expected to hold a meeting to discuss the impact of the war. Oil prices had earlier surged more than 25% to $110 a barrel, their highest levels since mid-2022, when Russia's invasion of Ukraine rocked global energy markets.
Kuwait, OPEC's fifth-largest producer, announced preliminary cuts in oil production and refinery output due to "Iranian threats against the safe passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz." The state-owned Kuwait Oil Corporation did not provide details on the size of the cuts.
Production in Iraq, OPEC's second-largest producer, has fallen. Output from three major oil fields in the south has fallen by 70% to 1.3 million barrels per day. The fields were producing 4.3 million barrels per day before the war with Iran.
Even the United Arab Emirates, OPEC's third-largest producer, said it was "carefully managing offshore production levels to meet storage requirements." Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said its onshore operations were continuing normally.
Gulf Arab states are cutting production because they are running out of storage space due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Tankers cannot pass through the narrow waterway. About 20% of the world's oil consumption is exported through the Strait.
Energy Secretary Chris Wright said Sunday that traffic through the Strait will resume after the US destroyed Iran's ability to threaten tankers.
“We’re not far off before you see a more regular resumption of shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz,” Wright said. “We’re not even close to normal traffic, and it’s going to take some time. But again, worst-case scenario, it’s weeks, not months.”
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