OPEC, the largest consortium of oil-producing nations (Persian Gulf), are in a struggle for its survival

The Iran war exposed a long-simmering feud within the world’s most powerful oil cartel, boiling over this spring when it contended with the biggest oil supply shock in history.

Now OPEC, the largest consortium of oil-producing nations, faces a fight for its existence.

The Strait of Hormuz has started to reopen, and some OPEC nations are clamoring to ramp up oil production to make up for lost time and sales. That’s reigniting age-old feuds about production quotas that already led the United Arab Emirates, one of OPEC’s most significant members, to leave the group in April.

OPEC is confronted with a critical choice: keep the group together and send oil prices into the ground, or drive profit higher and risk dismantling the nearly 70-year-old cartel.

What’s the gripe about?

While the rest of the world was scrounging around for any oil it could get this spring, the Middle East was awash in the stuff.

The only problem: OPEC countries with major operations in the Persian Gulf mostly struggled to get their crude out to their customers. Iran’s closure and America’s subsequent blockade of the Strait of Hormuz locked in a fifth of the world’s oil supply.

Several OPEC members – namely Iran, Iraq and Kuwait – had no choice but to shut in their crude production and wait.

Now that traffic in the strait has started to ramp up again, the jockeying for production quotas has begun. Iraq, the bloc’s second-largest oil producer, is reportedly the next shoe to drop – the country’s oil minister told Bloomberg that Iraq would have to decide whether or not to remain with OPEC if production targets don’t dramatically increase.

Iraq’s production was the hardest hit by the war, dropping by 75% to just over 1 million barrels a day in April and May – down from more than 4.5 million a day in January and February. Iraq wants permission to produce a record 5 million barrels a day coming out of the war, with a long-term aim of getting production up to 7 million barrels a day, Bloomberg reported.

“What’s the motivation? They need the cash!” said Jay Hatfield, CEO and founder of asset manager Infrastructure Capital Advisors.

The Saudi conundrum

The ultimate decider will be Saudi Arabia, by far the largest OPEC member with the most control over the group.

Unlike Iraq and Kuwait, the Saudis don’t need production to ramp up too much. The country was able to keep its oil business mostly afloat by bypassing the strait with pipelines that shipped oil to a port in Yanbu on the other side of the nation.

That allowed the Saudis to get its oil out via the Red Sea – not an option for Iraq and Kuwait, whose only seaports lie in the Persian Gulf.

While Iraq’s and Kuwait’s production plummeted during the war, Saudi Arabia’s fell by less than 40%.

So Saudi Arabia lacks the same incentive to start pumping oil like crazy. Quite the opposite: If production ramps up significantly before global demand recovers, that could destroy oil profit at a time when the Middle East is reeling from a lack of business.

“In this situation, it seems counterproductive to flood the market and push prices lower,” said Dan Pickering, founder and chief investment officer at Pickering Energy Partners.

That’s why OPEC has been clear: it will be judicious with its supply increases while it engages in dialog with its member states. This weekend, OPEC+, a group that includes Russia and some other non-OPEC members, agreed to raise daily output by just 188,000 barrels, the fifth such incremental production increase since March.

https://lite.cnn.com/2026/07/06/economy/the-fight-for-the-future-of-opec-begins-now

Khanna and Gallego withdraw Platner endorsements

Rep. Ro Khanna called for Graham Platner to drop out of the Maine Senate race following a POLITICO report about an allegation of sexual assault.

Rep. Ro Khanna and Sen. Ruben Gallego rescinded their support of Graham Platner on Monday, with Khanna additionally calling for the Democratic nominee to drop out of the Maine Senate race.

It’s a significant reversal from two formerly staunch Democratic defenders of Platner, following a POLITICO report that a woman who dated Platner said he forced her to have sex with him five years ago.

Platner has denied the allegations, but he also posted on social media that he was “taking the time to reflect on the best path forward” for his candidacy.

“I’ve been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line,” Khanna (D-Calif.) said on X. “These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out from the race. I am withdrawing my endorsement.”

In his own social media post, Gallego (D-Ariz.) called the allegations “troubling and deeply serious” while announcing he would no longer back the progressive oysterman.

The announcements from the two prominent Democratic members of Congress come amid growing calls for Platner to drop out and condemnations of his behavior — including from Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and leaders of the Maine Democratic Party — in the aftermath of POLITICO’s story.

Jenny Racicot, a 41-year-old Maine resident, said that Platner entered her home uninvited five years ago and forced himself on her despite her repeatedly telling him to stop. She said she cut off contact with him after telling him that his actions that night were not consensual.

“These allegations are horrific, full stop,” former Democratic National Committee Vice Chair David Hogg said on X. “Graham Platner needs to drop out and let a strong Democratic replacement run.”

“Pod Save America” co-hosts Tommy Vietor, Dan Pfeiffer and Jon Favreau, who brought Platner onto the show as he navigated the fallout of a Nazi-linked tattoo, also called on him to drop out Monday.

Democrats can still replace Platner on the ballot, but only if he chooses to drop out before the July 13 deadline outlined in Maine law. If he were to drop out, the state Democratic Party would have to choose his replacement by July 27.

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/07/06/ro-khanna-ruben-gallego-graham-platner-endorsement-00988368

Cuba plunges into third major blackout this year as power crisis worsens

Cuba's aging electrical infrastructure suffered another major breakdown, leaving roughly 10 million people without power.

An island-wide blackout plunged Cuba into darkness Monday as the country’s deepening energy crisis continues to strain its fragile power system.

The outage affected roughly 10 million people before limited electricity service was restored in some areas.

"A total disconnection of the National Electric Power System is occurring," Cuba’s state-run Electric Union said Monday morning. "The causes are being investigated."

Cuba has faced increasingly frequent power outages in recent years as the country struggles with chronic fuel shortages and deteriorating electrical grids. The crisis worsened when President Donald Trump imposed additional sanctions in January and threatened tariffs on countries that provide oil to the island.

During Monday’s blackout, public transportation was largely halted, and officials said tens of thousands of surgeries were canceled nationwide, according to The Associated Press (AP).

Authorities later said one generating unit had resumed operations roughly two hours after the collapse.

"Microsystems are already operational throughout the country, to ensure protection for vital services," the Electric Union said.

The energy minister said officials were working to restore power while accusing the U.S. of contributing to Cuba’s energy struggles.

"Vital services continue to be protected, amidst this complex situation exacerbated by the energy blockade we face," Vicente de la O Levy said.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel also blamed U.S. policies, describing the energy blockade as a "genocidal" measure imposed by Washington.

"While the U.S. tries to induce a social explosion through asphyxiation by blocking fuel access to #Cuba, the UNE mobilizes to reverse the SEN outage," Díaz-Canel said, referring to Cuba’s National Electric Power System.

"What the electrical workers are doing in the midst of a genocidal energy blockade is heroic."

Cuba’s energy crisis intensified earlier this year after a U.S. military operation captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and halted Venezuelan oil exports, cutting off a key source of fuel for the island.

While Cuba produces only about 40% of the fuel it needs, a Russian tanker delivered roughly 730,000 barrels of oil to the country in March, supplies that were depleted by the end of April, according to The AP.

To conserve fuel, the Cuban government has imposed scheduled power outages that have lasted more than 24 consecutive hours in some areas, the outlet said.

A blackout in early March affected Cuba’s western provinces, while a separate outage in mid-March plunged the entire island into darkness.

https://www.foxnews.com/world/cuba-plunges-third-major-blackout-year-power-crisis-worsens