Alex Lawler

LONDON (Reuters – OPEC said Thursday to the International Monetary Fund’s Steering Committee that oil prices rose due to Ukraine. It was the latest sign that the producers group is not willing to take additional measures to boost supply.

Reuters saw a statement from OPEC to the International Monetary and Financial Committee, which stated that the average price for global benchmark oil was near $98 per barrel during the first quarter. This is an increase of $18 over the previous three months in 2021.

“Oil prices have risen, especially in March this year… mainly because of the escalating geopolitical pressures in Eastern Europe, and concerns that this might lead to large oil supply shortages amid trade disruptions,” OPEC stated to the IMFC.

The spring meeting of both the International Monetary Fund’s Board of Governors and the World Bank’s Board of Governors will include the IMFC.

OPEC participated in a meeting last year of the IMFC. It has been resisting US and EU calls to increase oil production to lower prices. Prices reached a peak of $139 per barrel last month, after Washington and Brussels imposed severe sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine.

OPEC+ is a consortium of OPEC producers and Russia. It will increase output by approximately 432,000 barrels per hour in May as part of a slow unwinding the output cuts that were made after the worst COVID-19 pandemic.

OPEC stated that OPEC+ has demonstrated its determination to ensure that the fundamentals of oil supply and demand were balanced during the Ukraine crisis in order to sustain the global economy.

OPEC highlighted also the short-term negative impact of Ukraine’s crisis and continuing pandemic. They added: “The sharp rise in commodity prices in conjunction with continued supply chain bottlenecks, COVID-19-related logistical restrictions are fuelling already high levels global inflation.”