Producers' group reacts as the Middle East crisis threatens to fan a geopolitical risk driven oil price spike in a market that seemed pretty well supplied until now.

OPEC's spare capacity exists largely on paper, concentrated in Saudi Arabia and the UAE, but bringing it online could take up to 90 days, and logistical constraints through Hormuz mean spare capacity does not necessarily translate into deliverable barrels.

Daniel Hynes of ANZ says that if there are major disruptions to oil supplies out of the Middle East, a pick up in Russian oil exports won't make a big difference. He also expects oil prices to continue to rise next week,

After lots of saber-rattling in recent weeks, the U.S. and Israel launched military strikes against Iran over the weekend. The escalating conflict could significantly impact the oil market. Several analysts are predicting that oil prices could surge to $100 a barrel following the attacks (oil was in the low-$70s before the strikes).

OPEC 12 output decreased by 135 kb/d with the largest increases from Iraq (38 kb/d), UAE (14 kb/d), and Saudi Arabia (13 kb/d). Read more here.

OPEC+ kept oil output unchanged on Sunday after a quick meeting that avoided discussion of the political crises affecting several of the producer group’s members. Sunday’s meeting of eight members of OPEC+, which pumps about half the world’s oil ...

・OPEC initially began with five countries, which are Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, to end the dominance of the so-called ‘seven sisters’ Western oil companies and maintain stable oil prices. ・Since then, the alliance has expanded ...

The U.S. Energy Information Administration quietly rewrote a key assumption about the global oil market this week: OPEC can produce more oil than previously thought. In its December Short-Term Energy Outlook, the EIA updated how it defines and estimates ...

Oil prices have jumped as U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and retaliatory strikes against Israel and U.S. military installations around the Gulf ripple through the global energy supply