West needs to drop this blame game about OPEC+ production policies

West needs to drop this blame game about OPEC+ production policies

The relation between energy supplies and the Ukraine crisis is getting complicated by the day, with a significant impact on the global economy and on energy and commodity prices. Matters have reached a stage where these price spirals are becoming burdensome for all economies, including those in the West. This has sparked protests in some countries that could see living conditions becoming aggravated as a result of high inflation rates. Some are trying to blame the oil-producing countries, particularly the GCC states. However, matters in the energy markets - due to decisions taken by oil and gas-consuming countries - have gone out of control. The GCC countries, in turn, have begun to exhaust their excess production capacity. In April, OPEC+ members increased production by 400,000 barrels per day, as agreed upon, but the actual increase did not exceed 10,000 barrels due to the decline in production in some, such as Libya, as well as to the partial boycott of Russian production. This is with the knowledge that the decline in investments in the oil sector in recent years does not allow for significant increases in production capacity now. This means that no party can compensate Russian oil and gas production