Iran is in the process of strengthening its capacity and could reach more than 5 million barrels per day by 2008, based on investments through buyout agreements with IOCs and investments by the National Iranian Oil Company. However, this ambitious plan will depend on the success of major developments on the IOC ground, including Azadegan, South Pars, Sirri, Gagh Saran and the Ahwaz region. Nigeria plans to increase production at sea, which could (if successful) increase production to more than 3.5 million barrels per day by 2006. OPEC meets annually in Vienna, Austria, to discuss issues such as production levels and reaffirm commitments to previous agreements. In addition, OPEC held environmental seminars and joint meetings between OPEC member states and independent oil-exporting countries (IPEC) to discuss environmental issues related to the oil industry. In the 1990s, OPEC lost its two youngest members who joined in the mid-1970s. Ecuador withdrew in December 1992 because it was unwilling to pay the US$2 million annual dues and estimated that it had to produce more oil than was allowed by the OPEC quota,[65] although it re-joined in October 2007. Similar concerns led Gabon to suspend its membership in January 1995; [66] In July 2016, she was reinstated. [2] Iraq has been a member of OPEC since the creation of OPEC, but Iraqi production was not part of OPEC quota agreements between 1998 and 2016 due to the country`s frightening political difficulties. [67] International commodity agreements on products such as coffee, sugar, tin and, more recently, oil (OPEC: Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries) are examples of international cartels that have concluded public agreements between different national governments. In the mid-1990s, market share considerations were of the utmost importance for most OPEC countries with unused capacity. Saudi Arabia, in particular, had to address both the short- and long-term effects of the Venezuelan market expansion plans, which were expected to have a significant impact on the Kingdom`s ability to maintain sales in the United States.

The Venezuelan government has pledged to supplement state revenues with increased oil exports and in 1992 began a new policy allowing international oil companies (IOCs) to invest in the country`s once-nationalized oil fields. This campaign contributed to the increase in Venezuelan production, from some 2.5 million barrels per day in the 1980s to 3.5 to 3.7 million barrels per day until 1997. Venezuela has refused to comply with OPEC`s production-sharing agreements, which has severely damaged the producer group`s ability to manage oil markets and has severely prevented Saudi Arabia from making a sharp drop in production to defend oil prices. At different times, OPEC members have clearly shown anti-competitive behaviour through the organization`s agreements on oil production and price levels. [144] Indeed, economists often cite OPEC as an example of a cartel that cooperates in reducing competition in the market, as in this oecd glossary of economic law and competition from the industrial organization:[1] In 1982, to combat declining oil sales revenues, Saudi Arabia pushed OPEC to control domestic production quotas to limit production and increase prices.