OPEC on Sunday announced that its member nations will increase oil production by nearly 200,000 barrels per day in July, despite the Strait of Hormuz remaining closed and it being very difficult to ship it anywhere out of the Middle East. Photo by Ismael Mohamad/UPI | License Photo
June 7 (UPI) -- The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries on Sunday agreed to increase production by nearly 200,000 barrels per day despite the Strait of Hormuz remaining closed, making it near-impossible to ship any of it.
Ordinarily, OPEC increasing oil production among the group of nations that comprise it would lower its cost, but experts have called the move largely symbolic because of the ongoing war in Iran, The New York Times and Wall Street Journal reported.
The Strait of Hormuz, which 20% of the world's oil supply ordinarily would pass through daily, has been closed since early in the war as part of Iran's effort to counter the war launched by the United States and Israel in February.
The OPEC members that agreed to the 188,000-barrel increase for July -- the fourth month in a row that the group is increasing production -- include Saudi Arabia, Russia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Kazakhstan and Oman.
