OPEC Gets Its Price Spike in the Worst Way
After Saudi attacks trigger the biggest one-day jump in history, what comes next?
Austrian police officers guard the entrance to OPEC headquarters in Vienna, Austria in 2017.
Photographer: JOE KLAMAR/AFP/Getty Images
For much of the past three years, the oil cartel OPEC, along with frenemies such as Russia, have tried to lift oil prices by tamping down on supply. This weekend, their wishes came true, in a monkey’s paw, no-no-dear-God-that’s-not-what-I-meant sort of way.
Somebody – either Houthi rebels or Iran or both – very successfully attacked Saudi oil facilities early Saturday, taking out about half of the country’s production capacity. Oil-supply cut achievement: unlocked. The attack briefly caused the biggest one-day price spike in history. The world probably still has enough spare oil to avoid a huge shock, notes Julian Lee; but only if this conflict doesn’t keep escalating.