Editing OPEC (section)

===1990–2003: Ample supply and modest disruptions===
{{See also|1990 oil price shock}}
[[File:Kuwait burn oilfield.png|thumb|left|upright=1.4|alt=refer to caption|One of the hundreds of [[Kuwaiti oil fires]] set by retreating Iraqi troops in 1991<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/20014FNJ.txt?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=1991%20Thru%201994&File=D%3A%5CZYFILES%5CINDEX%20DATA%5C91THRU94%5CTXT%5C00000017%5C20014FNJ.txt&User=ANONYMOUS&Password=anonymous&Display=p%7Cf&DefSeekPage=x&SearchBack=ZyActionL&Back=ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results%20page&MaximumPages=1&ZyEntry=1 |title=Report to Congress: United States Gulf Environmental Technical Assistance |publisher=US Environmental Protection Agency |page=14 |date=1991 |access-date=11 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160424001604/http://nepis.epa.gov/Exe/ZyNET.exe/20014FNJ.txt?ZyActionD=ZyDocument&Client=EPA&Index=1991%20Thru%201994&File=D%3A%5CZYFILES%5CINDEX%20DATA%5C91THRU94%5CTXT%5C00000017%5C20014FNJ.txt&User=ANONYMOUS&Password=anonymous&Display=p%7Cf&DefSeekPage=x&SearchBack=ZyActionL&Back=ZyActionS&BackDesc=Results%20page&MaximumPages=1&ZyEntry=1 |archive-date=24 April 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>]]
[[File:Brent crude oil price 1988-2015.svg|thumb|upright=2.15|alt=refer to caption|Fluctuations of Brent crude oil price, 1988–2015<ref name=Brent>{{cite web |url=https://www.quandl.com/DOE/RBRTE |title=Europe Brent Crude Oil Spot Price FOB (DOE) |publisher=Quandl |access-date=1 January 2016 }} {{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>]]
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Leading up to his August 1990 [[Invasion of Kuwait]], Iraqi President [[Saddam Hussein]] was pushing OPEC to end overproduction and to send oil prices higher, in order to help OPEC members financially and to accelerate rebuilding from the 1980–1988 [[Iran–Iraq War]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/18/business/iraq-threatens-emirates-and-kuwait-on-oil-glut.html |title=Iraq Threatens Emirates and Kuwait on Oil Glut |first=Youssef M. |last=Ibrahim |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=18 July 1990 |access-date=11 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170630060909/http://www.nytimes.com/1990/07/18/business/iraq-threatens-emirates-and-kuwait-on-oil-glut.html |archive-date=30 June 2017 |url-status=live }}</ref> But these two Iraqi wars against fellow OPEC founders marked a low point in the cohesion of the organization, and oil prices subsided quickly after the short-term supply disruptions. The September 2001 [[September 11 attacks|Al Qaeda attacks on the US]] and the March 2003 [[US invasion of Iraq]] had even milder short-term impacts on oil prices, as Saudi Arabia and other exporters again cooperated to keep the world adequately supplied.<ref>{{cite web |title=Europe Brent Spot Price FOB |url=https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=RBRTE&f=M |website=www.eia.gov |access-date=23 September 2024}}</ref>

In the 1990s, OPEC lost its two newest members, who had joined in the mid-1970s. Ecuador withdrew in December 1992, because it was unwilling to pay the annual US$2&nbsp;million membership fee and felt that it needed to produce more oil than it was allowed under the OPEC quota,<ref name=Ecuador>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/18/business/ecuador-set-to-leave-opec.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|title=Ecuador Set to Leave OPEC|agency=[[Associated Press]]|date=18 September 1992 |access-date=8 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314210526/http://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/18/business/ecuador-set-to-leave-opec.html |archive-date=14 March 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> although it rejoined in October 2007. Similar concerns prompted Gabon to suspend membership in January 1995;<ref name=Gabon>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/09/business/gabon-plans-to-quit-opec.html |title=Gabon Plans To Quit OPEC |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|agency=[[Bloomberg News]]|date=9 January 1995 |access-date=8 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314132000/http://www.nytimes.com/1995/01/09/business/gabon-plans-to-quit-opec.html |archive-date=14 March 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> it rejoined in July 2016.<ref name="OPEC Member"/> Iraq has remained a member of OPEC since the organization's founding, but Iraqi production was not a part of OPEC quota agreements from 1998 to 2016, due to the country's daunting political difficulties.<ref name=ASB/><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Industry/2010/02/05/Iraq-heads-for-OPEC-clash-over-quota/14451265409498/ |title=Iraq heads for OPEC clash over quota |work=United Press International |date=5 February 2010 |quote=Iraq, a founding member of OPEC, has not had a production quota since 1998, when it was pegged at 1.3 million bpd to allow Saddam Hussein's regime to sell oil for food during U.N. sanctions imposed in 1990... Despite the success of the 2009 auctions, problems remain – mounting violence in the run-up to March 7 parliamentary elections, uncertainty over their outcome, and, probably more importantly, the absence of a long-delayed oil law that will define revenue-sharing and regulation of the industry. |access-date=6 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417085129/http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Industry/2010/02/05/Iraq-heads-for-OPEC-clash-over-quota/14451265409498/ |archive-date=17 April 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Lower demand triggered by the 1997–1998 [[Asian financial crisis]] saw the price of oil fall back to 1986 levels. After oil slumped to around US$10/bbl, joint diplomacy achieved a gradual slowing of oil production by OPEC, Mexico and Norway.<ref>{{cite book |url=http://www.energycharter.org/fileadmin/DocumentsMedia/Thematic/Oil_and_Gas_Pricing_2007_en.pdf |title=Putting a Price on Energy |publisher=Energy Charter Secretariat |year=2007 |isbn=978-90-5948-046-9 |page=90 |access-date=1 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160413155028/http://www.energycharter.org/fileadmin/DocumentsMedia/Thematic/Oil_and_Gas_Pricing_2007_en.pdf |archive-date=13 April 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref> After prices slumped again in Nov. 2001, OPEC, Norway, Mexico, Russia, Oman and Angola agreed to cut production on 1 January 2002 for 6 months. OPEC contributed 1.5&nbsp;million barrels a day (mbpd) to the approximately 2 mbpd of cuts announced.<ref name="Ali">{{cite book |last1=Al-Naimi |first1=Ali |title=Out of the Desert |date=2016 |publisher=Portfolio Penguin |location=Great Britain |isbn=978-0-241-27925-0 |pages=201–210, 239}}</ref>

In June 2003, the [[International Energy Agency]] (IEA) and OPEC held their first joint workshop on energy issues. They have continued to meet regularly since then, "to collectively better understand trends, analysis and viewpoints and advance market transparency and predictability."<ref>{{cite journal |url=http://www.iea.org/media/ieajournal/Issue7_WEB.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502040956/http://www.iea.org/media/ieajournal/Issue7_WEB.pdf |date=November 2014 |title=Dialogue replaces OPEC–IEA Mistrust |journal=IEA Energy |issue=7 |page=7 |archive-date=2 May 2016}}</ref>