According to accounts conducted by Reuters that with oil losing more than a third of its value overnight after the collapse of the OPEC + alliance, OPEC member states are bleeding more than half a billion dollars a day due to lost revenue.
In most cases, oil tops the list of sources of income for members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and such a sharp drop in prices will put pressure on their economies, some of which are already, like Iran and Venezuela, on the edge of the abyss.
Brent crude futures incurred a significant loss of about 31 percent to $ 31.02 today, the lowest level since mid-February 2016. At this low level, prices are about $ 20 a barrel lower than the peak before the OPEC and its allies meeting on the sixth of March.
According to Reuters calculations, this means that overall, based on their average production in February, OPEC members lost revenues of more than $ 500 million.
The losses are much more evident when compared to the high level reached in Brent in January at $ 71.75 a barrel.
OPEC was pushing toward increasing the current cuts with its allies, within the framework of what is known as the OPEC + group, by an additional 1.5 million barrels per day to more than three million barrels per day until the end of the year. Russia rejected the proposal, causing the alliance to collapse and a price war to erupt on market shares.
For some countries, the oil prices that achieved a breakeven point in the budget actually far outweighed the price of oil before the latest collapse.
Jan Friedrich, Director of Sovereign Ratings for the Middle East and Africa at Fitch: GCC"