These are the countries that will be ‘most hit’ if oil prices reach $100

The surprise output cut by OPEC and its allies sent oil prices rallying — and analysts say major oil importers like India, Japan and South Korea will feel the most pain if prices hit $100 per barrel, as some have predicted.

On Sunday, OPEC+ announced a production cut of 1.16 million barrels per day, in a move that oil markets were not expecting.

“It’s a tax on every oil importing economy,” said Pavel Molchanov, managing director of private investment bank Raymond James.

“It’s not the US that would feel the most pain from $100 oil, it would be the countries that have no domestic petroleum resources: Japan, India, Germany, France … to name some of the big examples,” Molchanov said.

The voluntary cuts by countries in the oil cartel are set to start in May and last till the end of 2023. Both Saudi Arabia and Russia will trim oil production by 500,000 barrels per day until the end of this year, while other OPEC members like Kuwait, Oman, Iraq, Algeria and Kazakhstan also reduce output.

Brent crude futures were last trading 0.57% higher at $85.41 a barrel, while the U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures stood 0.5% at $81.11 per barrel.

“The regions most hit by the oil supply cut and related crude price jump are those with a high degree of import reliance and a high share of fossil fuels in their primary energy systems,” said director of Eurasia Group, Henning Gloystein. 

“Although they’re still profiting from discounted Russian gas they are already hurting from high coal and gas prices,” Gloystein said.

“If oil goes up further, even the discounted Russian crude will start to hurt India’s growth.”

Japan

Oil is the most significant energy source in Japan,…