Africa now dominates Opec — sort of

Africa now dominates OPEC, at least in member numbers.

The Republic of Congo, the latest to join after Equatorial Guinea last year and Gabon in 2016, expands the number of countries from the continent to seven, compared with six from the Middle East.

Yet with less than a million barrels of oil pumped by the three new members combined, their influence is limited, especially as Saudi Arabia’s alliance with Russia increasingly dictates policy.

African countries’ combined output is less than the production increase agreed at the weekend.

Russia, which is not a member of Opec, and Saudi Arabia led that decision, at a meeting being read as a snapshot of the oil market’s future.