• The price of Brent crude has fallen under $63 per barrel from a high of $70 per barrel in early March.

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• A recent resurgence in Covid-19 infections coupled with a decision by OPEC+ (a keep         producers’ block) to increase crude oil production has contributed to a fall in crude oil prices.
• The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is an intergovernmental organization of 13 countries.
• It was founded in 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela).
• Since 1965, it is headquartered in Vienna, Austria, although Austria is not an OPEC                member state.
• The current OPEC members are the following: Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
• A larger group called OPEC+ was formed in late 2016 to have more control on the global crude oil market.
• The stated mission of the organization is to “coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of its member countries and ensure the stabilization of oil markets”.