Kuwait Shuts In Production, Qatar's Energy Minister Warns Oil Could Hit $150 in Weeks

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Oil prices could soar to as much as $150 per barrel within two to three weeks if the critical Strait of Hormuz remains off limits for tankers, Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad al-Kaabi told the Financial Times in an interview published on Friday.

That proclamation came just a few short hours before reports that Kuwait—one of the founding members of OPEC—had begun shutting in oil production at some oilfields as there just simply isn’t anywhere to store any more oil with the Strait of Hormuz still at a standstill. According to sources familiar with the matter, Kuwait is also discussing cutting production even further, and refining operations as well, to levels that would match what would be needed domestically.

Kuwait’s production outages has not yet been quantified.

All major oil and gas exporters in the Middle East are set to declare force majeure on exports within days if the vital shipping lane remains de facto closed to tanker traffic, said al-Kaabi, who is also president and CEO of QatarEnergy.

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“Everybody that has not called for force majeure we expect will do so in the next few days that this continues. All exporters in the Gulf region will have to call force majeure,” Qatar’s al-Kaabi told FT.

The official also predicted that if the war continues for a few weeks, global economic growth would suffer.

But even if the war were to end today, Qatar would likely need “weeks to months” to return to a normal schedule and cycle of energy deliveries, al-Kaabi said.

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