OPEC has voluntarily reduced production by more than 1.07 million barrels per day, which will be effective from the beginning of next month until the end of 2023. The reaction varied between neutral and opposition to this decision. The neutral group believes that it is a decision that concerns OPEC alone and that it has the right to take what it deems appropriate and in a way that serves its interests and the interests of its people. As for the opponents, they argue that the time is not appropriate and that the state of uncertainty still hangs over the global economic scene, and they accuse OPEC of raising prices artificially, which in turn will affect the high rates of inflation.
OPEC was not in the power of the decision to print more than 8 trillion dollars in new money, which resulted in inflation rates in some countries reaching levels not seen in decades. It also had no hand in the manufacture of the Corona virus, which many accounts say is the creation of viral laboratories. The decision to ignite the largest conflict in Europe since World War II, which is the Russian-Ukrainian war, was not cooked in the corridors of OPEC, and the slowdown in global economic growth was not due to the shock of that war in the hands of anyone in OPEC. The Western banking sector did not consult OPEC when investing the majority of customer deposits in cryptocurrencies and bonds, which were negatively affected due to the Federal Reserve raising interest rates from 0.25% in February 2022 to 5% in March 2023, a huge increase in a short time that made it impossible for banks to manage their balance sheets. smoothly.
I do not remember that OPEC had a role in the global food crisis because of the high prices of fertilizers, farmers joining the ranks of the Ukrainian army, and the closure of the Black Sea ports. Nor did it incite countries to discourage their investments in the energy sector, but rather it always and never urges countries to invest more in the oil sector to meet the world's future energy needs, moreover, OPEC members did not interfere when Biden signed a ban on new oil and gas permits in lands and waters. The general public, especially in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska, for political electoral reasons, was based on miscalculations.
Ali Muhammad Al-Hazmi