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OPEC Output Takes Record Plunge as Iran War Slams Exports
Output Collapsed by 7.88 Million Barrels a Day to 20.79 Million a Day in March
OPEC crude production registered a record plunge last month as conflict in the Middle East throttled exports from key members, the group’s data showed.
Output from the organization collapsed by 7.88 million barrels a day to 20.79 million a day in March, driven by losses in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait, according to a monthly report from its secretariat seen by Bloomberg News.
It’s the steepest drop in data going back to the 1980s.
The conflict between a U.S.-Israeli alliance and Iran has shuttered the Persian Gulf’s vital Strait of Hormuz waterway for six weeks, forcing regional producers to shut in output. It has sent prices for products like jet fuel, diesel and gasoline soaring, threatening the global economy with a wave of inflation.
International oil futures traded near $102 a barrel in London on April 13, as President Donald Trump vowed toblockade Iranian flowsfrom Hormuz after failing to reach a diplomatic solution at the weekend, and Tehranthreatened retaliation.
The report from OPEC’s secretariat appeared to make no references to the strait or its closure.
’s Monthly Oil Market Report for April 2026 is now available online
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The plunge surpasses a drop of 6.28 million barrels in May 2020, when the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and partners slashed output as global fuel demand collapsed during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s similar to the assessment inBloomberg’s monthly survey, published last week.
Iraq suffered the biggest decline in March, slumping by 2.56 million barrels a day to 1.63 million a day, according to the report, compiled by the organization’s Vienna-based research department. It was closely followed by Saudi Arabia, down 2.31 million to 7.8 million a day.
OPEC reduced estimates for global oil demand in the second quarter by 500,000 barrels a day, though offsetting increases in the second half of the year left the annual level unchanged.
Before the war erupted on Feb. 28, key OPEC+ nations had been reviving production shuttered several years ago. At a monthly video conference on April 5, they agreed asymbolic increase for Mayto continue the process. They’ll meet again on May 3.
