In 1960, frustrated by Western control over the world’s oil industry, five of the world’s top oil-producing nations created the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC.

OPEC pumped an average of just over 27 million barrels a day in January, about 70,000 a day less than the month before.

OPEC, or the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, serves as an organizing body of the world's largest producers of oil. Its purpose, per its website, is to "coordinate and unify the ...

AFP / Ryad Kramdi (Photo credit should read RYAD KRAMDI/AFP via Getty Images) Earlier this year, OPEC and its partners announced that it would begin to ease production cuts for members in the fall.