In the midst of possibly the worst global oil crisis in years, the members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) are caught in the middle, with the alliance of oil exporting countries exhibiting a notable rift drawn among its members.

Recently, members of the organization such as Venezuela and Nigeria have requested for an emergency meeting to address the ongoing crisis in the global oil market, which is, in a lot of ways, connected to the levels of production by the members of the OPEC, reported Reuters.

With the current levels of production and with crude's biggest markets such as China cutting back on their reliance on the commodity, the oil market has experienced its most radical plunge in years. One way to curb the trend, of course, is if OPEC members would agree to cut back on its production, stabilizing the market in the process.

By cutting back on production, however, OPEC members would lose a notable part of its market share. Such an event is something that other OPEC members such as Saudi Arabia, is trying to prevent.

As the global oil market continues in its current tailspin, the organization might be forced to show its hand pretty soon. Together with Venezuela, which has already filed an official request for an emergency OPEC meeting, five other members, as well as two prominent oil-producing countries, have also stated their wishes to have an emergency OPEC summit to be conducted soon, in order to discuss possible contingencies which might help the global oil market, according to The Business Insider.

Currently, the members of the OPEC which are requesting for an emergency meeting include Venezuela, Nigeria, Ecuador, Iraq, Algeria and even Iran, which just had its economic sanctions lifted recently. Together with the six OPEC members, Russia and Oman, both countries which are also among the world's largest oil producers, have also stated that they support an emergency OPEC meeting.

The dark horse of the entire issue is Saudi Arabia, which is arguably the most powerful nation in all the OPEC countries. It is the country which shot down the first suggestion of an emergency meeting by Nigeria's oil minister recently, and it is also the country which stated that the current strategy of OPEC is "working."

With the pressure mounting not just from fellow OPEC members, but from other oil-producing countries such as Russia as well, the time might be near for Gulf nations, under the leadership of Saudi Arabia, to finally be open to the prospect of an emergency summit. This way, the world's most prominent oil-producing nations would finally be able to address the global oil crisis straight in the eye once and for all.