BRUSSELS: International Energy Agency chief Fatih Birol on Friday dismissed fears of a global oil crisis, and said there was “plenty of oil in the market.”
But he was contradicted by Qatar’s Energy Minister Saad Al-Kaabi, who said Gulf oil producers could halt exports within weeks because of the US-Israel-Iran war, sending crude prices to $150 a barrel.

The war on Iran and Tehran’s retaliatory attacks across the Gulf have already sent crude prices soaring by about 20 percent, fanning fears of a fresh spike in inflation that could hit the global economy. Shipping through the critical Strait of Hormuz has all but dried up.
US President Donald Trump has pledged to protect ships passing through and promised further action to “reduce pressure on oil,” but prices have remained elevated. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 2.77 percent on Friday to nearly $88 a barrel.

However, Birol said: “There is plenty of oil, we have no oil shortage. There is a huge surplus in the market. We are facing a temporary disruption, a logistical disruption.”

Nevertheless, Al-Kaabi insisted there would be pressure on oil supplies “in two to three weeks” if tankers were unable to pass through the Strait.

“Everybody that has ​not called for force majeure we expect ⁠will do so in the next ​few days that this continues. All exporters in ​the Gulf region will have to call force majeure,” he said. “Everybody's energy price is going to go higher. There will be shortages of ​some products and there will be a chain reaction of factories that cannot supply.”

Qatar halted its liquefied natural gas production on March 2, as Iranian retaliation for US and Israeli strikes continued to target Gulf countries.