Summary
When Saudi Arabia and Russia announced a new policy to revive oil production earlier this month, one thing was missing: most of the other partners in their grand coalition. With oil supplies tightening and prices soaring, the two countries agreed to restore some of the output they halted as part of an accord with 22 other producers, drawn from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and beyond.
The trouble is, officials from several countries in the agreement, both inside OPEC and outside, said they disapproved of the proposal to raise output and saw difficulties in reaching a consensus when they meet in Vienna next month.
Most nations in the agreement weren't consulted about the Saudi-Russia policy to revive output.
In Venezuela, which lobbied hard to set up the 2016 accord, output has plunged to the lowest level since the 1950s as a spiraling economic crisis batters its oil industry.
At the group's next meeting six months later, the Saudi proposal was adopted.
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