The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) on Wednesday said it will stop using International Energy Agency (IEA) data to assess compliance with production quotas of the OPEC member countries.
The decision came after an extraordinary meeting held via videoconference.
OPEC agreed to replace IEA with consultancy Wood Mackenzie and Rystad Energy as secondary sources while assessing the crude production levels of the member countries.
The group said the decision will go into immediate effect.
The IEA provides one of six sets of output numbers that make up OPEC's monthly report's 'secondary sources' estimate of oil production.
The IEA and OPEC have been at odds for a while as the latter is under pressure to ramp up its production to cool off the rising oil prices and to relieve the market amid supply concerns.
The IEA also initiated an international move to release a total of 50 million barrels of oil from emergency reserves of the countries including the US.
By Sibel Morrow
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr