The OPEC cartel, which has struggled for many months to restore to the market oil supplies that dwindled during the pandemic, actually failed to increase production in April, as its members are still short of capacity, Bloomberg writes.

And while Iraq has made significant production gains, countries such as Libya and Nigeria have seen their oil production fall due to disruptions and reduced investment. Even the group’s leader, Saudi Arabia, has been unable to increase production as much as its agreed quota would allow.

Global oil prices are holding steady at around $106 a barrel, but the situation has been exacerbated by a de facto embargo on Russian crude by many refineries in the West.

The high price level is fueling a surge in inflation that is hitting consumers and threatening global economic growth.

Key oil consumers such as the U.S. have grown tired of pressuring Saudi Arabia to ramp up production and fill the supply gap and have instead begun releasing their emergency oil reserves themselves. Saudi Arabia’s refusal to ramp up production more quickly reflects its confidence that there is still enough oil on the market despite the Ukraine conflict.

The alliance is likely to stick to its established plan, ratifying another modest addition of 430,000 barrels a day when it meets on Thursday. But also in doing so, the group may find it difficult to realize much of the agreed production amount.

OPEC added just 10,000 barrels a day to the market in April, compared with a planned 274,000 barrels a day. It pumped an average of 28.7 million bpd.

While Iraq increased production by 170,000 bpd to 4.46 million, Libya cut production by 150,000 bpd due to port and field closures.

Saudi Arabia added just 70,000 bpd, about two-thirds of the permitted increase, leaving production at 10.34 million bpd, about 100,000 bpd below the kingdom’s target.

Riyadh has restored production, which declined during the pandemic, and has returned to the average volumes seen before the crisis.