Oil prices spiked following the death on Friday of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah, whose country’s oil production is the largest of any state in the 12-member Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), a cartel responsible for approximately 40% of the global oil supply.
The monarch’s passing also increased oil futures in New York by 3.1 and London by 2.6, according to Bloomberg. As the globe’s biggest exporter of crude oil, Saudi Arabia helped maintain an OPEC production quota last year that helped keep oil prices low by ensuring a high supply of crude in the worldwide market. Prices nearly halved last year when OPEC’s output did not drop to reflect oversupply, as the U.S., the globe’s largest consumer of oil, pumped more oil than it had in over three decades.
“The passing of King Abdullah is going to increase uncertainty and increase volatility in oil prices in the near term,” said financial analyst Neil Beveridge in a phone interview with Bloomberg.
U.S. crude stockpiles jumped by 10.1 million barrels, its largest volume increase since early 2001, according to the Energy Information Administration’s reports up to Jan. 16.
Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz succeeds King Abdullah, who helmed the kingdom for nearly a decade and significantly enlarged Saudi Arabia’s economy, which is now the largest in the Arab world in terms of total GDP.
Rich Nation, Poor People: Saudi Arabia by Lynsey Addario
Fatima Hazazi stands in front of boxes of medicine she requires monthly to treat her kidney problem at home in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Despite the extremely wealthy sector of society in Saudi Arabia, and the the veneer of widespread affluence projected outside the Kingdom, severe poverty is as much a part of life in Riyadh as wealth.Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIMESaudi children play on old furniture outside of the home in which they live in a poor neighborhood in South Riyadh.Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIMEOne of twelve children living in a house that Yayeh Mussawa rents with his family in South Riyadh. Like many across Saudi Arabia who are living barely above the poverty line, Mussawa's family relies on charity to survive.
Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIMESaudis beg in a line on a street known to locals as 'The Beggars' Street,' in South Riyadh.Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIMESaudi children do the dishes in a home in South Riyadh.
Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIMESelma Saleh, an impoverished Saudi woman, sits on her bed in her home in South Riyadh.
Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIMEMatara stands with her two boys next to a sink without water in her home in South Riyadh.
Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIMEA young man begs on the street in Riyadh.Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIMESaudi citizens rest after presenting Saudi billionaire, HRH Prince al Waleed bin Talal, with petitions for his help at a desert camp outside of Riyadh.Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIMESaudi billionaire, HRH Prince Waleed bin Talal, greets Saudi citizens at a desert camp outside of Riyadh to accept their petitions for his help.Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIMESaudi billionaire, HRH Prince Waleed bin Talal, greets Saudi citizens at a desert camp outside of Riyadh to accept their petitions for his help.Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIMESaudi billionaire, HRH Prince Waleed bin Talal, greets Saudi citizens at a desert camp outside of Riyadh to accept their petitions for his help.Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIMEYoung Saudi women pray in a friend's home before going out to dinner in Riyadh. Though statistics are difficult to confirm, youth unemployment and poverty are on the rise in Saudi Arabia. While society is increasingly open to women in the workforce, there are still limited jobs in which women and men can work side by side. There are a great number of highly educated Saudis who can not find work suitable for their qualifications.Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIMEA Saudi woman bids on an Arabian Horse at an auction outside of Riyadh.Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIMESaudi men pray at dusk at a camel market outside of Riyadh.Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIMESaudis linger after an auction for Arabian Horses at a club outside of Riyadh.
Lynsey Addario—Getty Images Reportage for TIME
