The lack of a consensus highlights inequities between oil-producing countries that can boost output beyond current levels and those that can’t. The former group would like to see a rise in demand. The latter prefer higher oil prices. At a gathering of the cartel and nonmember producing nations here on Sunday, Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the 14-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and Russia, which leads 11 other allied producers, reiterated that they want to adhere to production quotas to which they agreed in late 2016. But sticking to those limits would mean an extra 500,000 barrels a day would flow into global markets to compensate for expected declines once the Iran sanctions take effect and as Venezuela’s economic crisis continues. “Every extra dollar on the oil price eases their pain,” said Richard Mallinson, geopolitical analyst at consultancy Energy Aspects, of struggling OPEC producers including […]