OPEC - share of total global crude oil production 2009-2018

OPEC produced approximately 41.9 percent of the world’s total crude oil in 2018 and sold it at an average price of around 69.8 U.S. dollars per barrel. OPEC stands for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and was established in Iraq in 1960.

Regional distribution and OPEC

OPEC includes fourteen member countries located mostly in the Middle East and Africa, though also in South America. Over the past decade, roughly a third of the world’s total oil production has come from the Middle East, while the share produced by Africa and South America have been declining. Overall, global oil production has increased every year of past twenty, except for the years surrounding the financial crisis, from 2007 to 2009.

The recession hits prices

After several years of heavy increase, OPEC oil prices spiked in 2008 higher than they’d ever been. While prices fell again in 2009, they have remained significantly higher than in the early 2000s and years prior, at times nearly double or triple their previous levels. OPEC oil prices were at their peak between 2011 and 2014.