CERAWEEK-Kuwait oil CEO says Iran is 'holding the world's economy hostage'

By Stephanie Kelly

HOUSTON, March 24 (Reuters) - Emergency measures to alleviate the disruption to energy supply caused by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran are "not even a drop in the proverbial barrel" compared to normal oil and gas export flows from the Middle East Gulf, the CEO of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation said on Tuesday.

Kuwait and Gulf neighbors Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iraq have been forced to cut millions of barrels of crude production after Iranian missile and drone attacks on infrastructure across the region and on ships attempting to transit the Strait of Hormuz. Analysts have termed the disruption to global oil and gas supplies the worst in history, pushing oil prices over $100 a barrel.

"We are outraged by this attack against us," Sheikh Nawaf Saud Al-Sabah said in a fiery video-link address to the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston. "This is an attack against not only the Gulf, but it is an attack that is holding the world's economy hostage. It is an attack against our sovereignty in Kuwait, against our people and also against our facilities."

Air raid sirens sounded five times in Kuwait City overnight, he said. There was no justification for targeting civilian infrastructure, he said.

Kuwait, an OPEC member previously producing around 2.6 million barrels per day of oil, has cut energy production and had to declare force majeure after Iran effectively closed the strait, which handles some 20% of the world's oil consumption.

There is no substitute for exports through the Strait of Hormuz, he said. Measures such as the largest-ever release from global strategic stockpiles, U.S. waivers to sanctions on some Russian and Iranian crude exports, and exports through pipelines that bypass the strait fell far short of the volume of crude and fuel that the Middle East normally exports, he added.

"These are not even stopgap measures," he said. "Stopgap measures would at least fulfill demand for a certain period of time."

The closure of the strait was also affecting global supply chains, he said, adding that the rising cost of fertilizer will lead to hunger and strife around the world as food prices rise.

"It is not anyone’s strait. It is the world’s strait, under international law and practical reality as well," he said.

Kuwait would take three to four months to return output to full production levels even if the war were to end today, he added.