OPEC Members to Decide on Production Quotas Amid Crude Oil Price Surge

New Delhi: The seven members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are due to decide on production quotas today. This is the first meeting of OPEC Plus since the UAE pulled out on May 1. The price of crude oil has risen sharply since then. The supply of crude oil was tightened after the Iran war. This caused the price to jump. The announcement of the UAE's withdrawal from OPEC Plus added fuel to the fire and the price of crude oil reached $126 per barrel, according to AFP. The meeting will be attended by Algeria, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Oman, Russia and Saudi Arabia. It is believed that the meeting may decide to increase crude oil production by 1,888,000 barrels per day. Experts say that the total output of OPEC Plus countries has fallen to 27.68 million barrels in March while the monthly quota is 36.73 million barrels and the difference in Saudi production is close to 9 million barrels per day. The movement of crude oil to the UAE and Kuwait has been affected the most.