OPEC and allied countries, meeting as OPEC+, agreed Sunday to raise production limits on five countries, ending a dispute that had sent global energy prices reeling.
The disagreement, triggered by the United Arab Emirates’ request to increase its own production, had temporarily disrupted a previous cartel meeting. In a statement issued Sunday, the cartel announced that Iraq, Kuwait, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates would have their limits increased.
Under the new production limits, the United Arab Emirates could produce up to 3.5 million barrels of crude oil per day from May 2022. This is lower than the 3.8 million barrels per day they were originally seeking. Saudi Arabia’s limit of 11 million barrels per day would increase to 11.5 million, as would Russia’s. Iraq and Kuwait saw smaller increases.
In Africa, Nigeria and Algeria could also see their ceilings increased.
OPEC has been losing momentum for the past few years and is struggling to establish itself as it did in the 1970s. When the United States, which is not part of the cartel, began to increase its own oil production, OPEC had to call on third countries such as Russia to jointly decrease the oil supply on the market and stabilize the price per barrel.
Thus, in 2016, the so-called OPEC+ was born. The OPEC member countries are Algeria, Angola, Congo, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. OPEC+ members are Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, Sudan and South Sudan.