Leading up to his August 1990 Invasion of Kuwait , Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was pushing OPEC to end overproduction and to send oil prices higher , in order to help OPEC members financially and to accelerate rebuilding from the 1980 – 1988 Iran – Iraq War . But these two Iraqi wars against fellow OPEC founders marked a low point in the cohesion of the organization , and oil prices subsided quickly after the short-term supply disruptions . The September 2001 Al Qaeda attacks on the US and the March 2003 US invasion of Iraq had even milder short-term impacts on oil prices , as Saudi Arabia and other exporters again cooperated to keep the world adequately supplied
Al Qaeda attacks on the US
September 11 attacks
OPEC