Economics
OPEC Output Is at Risk From Social Unrest
- Only Kuwait will be able to make ends meet at $55 oil price
- OPEC saw multiple supply outages in 2015-16 when prices fell
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Oil’s plunge has taken prices below the level all but one OPEC country needs to square their 2019 budgets, increasing the risk of supply disruptions from economic dislocation and social unrest.
At today’s Brent price of $55 a barrel, only uber-wealthy and sparsely populated Kuwait will be able to make ends meets next year. OPEC giants Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Iran need much higher prices. So do the nations that have suffered disruptions in the past when prices have fallen: Libya, Venezuela and Nigeria.