Saudi Arabia, some OPEC members disagree over oil production quotas

Before a heated OPEC meeting on Sunday, Saudi Arabia and some of the other members argued over who would produce how much oil.

People claim that Saudi Arabia, the de facto head of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, demanded that smaller African producers reduce their quotas. They also said that the kingdom was negotiating with the United Arab Emirates, another significant member of the group, to be given permission to increase production.

Some of the African delegates were summoned to the hotel suite of Saudi Oil Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman on Saturday and informed that their production quotas within the group would be decreased, according to the people. The people added that they left the meeting without reaching an agreement. For various reasons, including pandemic shutdowns that proved difficult to reverse and years of underinvestment, African nations like Nigeria and Angola frequently struggle to even meet their current production targets.

Requests for comment from the energy ministries of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Nigeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of Congo were not immediately answered.

When OPEC and its allies, led by Russia, are meeting this weekend in Vienna to decide on a production plan, a production cut of up to 1 million barrels per day is on the table, according to delegates. 

More than half of the world's oil production is produced by the larger 23-member group. A decrease in production, according to the delegates, is anticipated to support crude prices amid worries that the slowing global economy will reduce energy demand. However, because it will have an impact on their overall revenues, most members are reluctant to give up their assigned production quotas.