From Saudi-UAE spat to 2020 price war, OPEC drama is nothing new

The ongoing disagreement between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia is just the latest conflict in the oil cartel’s history.

The ongoing spat between the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia is just the latest dispute in the decades-long history of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Founded in 1960, the OPEC oil cartel has seen its share of disagreements between members, ranging from arguments over output quotas to all-out conflicts such as the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s and Iraq’s 1990 invasion of Kuwait. OPEC+, a group made up of OPEC, Russia and their allies that first began talks on production cooperation in 2016, have also had disputes, notably a falling out in March 2020 just as the COVID-19 crisis hammered the oil market.