Saudi Arabia and some OPEC members clashed over who would produce how much oil ahead of a contentious group meeting on Sunday, people familiar with the matter said, in a sign of growing tensions within the cartel amid concerns over weakening global energy demand.

Saudi Arabia, the de facto leader of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, demanded smaller African producers cut their quotas, according to the people. At the same time, the kingdom was in talks with the United Arab Emirates, another powerful member of the group, to allow it to produce more, they added.

Saudi Oil Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman called some of the African delegates to his hotel suite in Vienna on Saturday and told them that their production quotas within the group would be reduced, the people said. They walked out of the meeting without a deal, the people added. African countries such as Nigeria and Angola have often struggled to even meet their current production targets for various reasons, including pandemic shutdowns that proved hard to reverse and years of underinvestment.

Representatives for the energy ministries of Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E., Nigeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and the Republic of Congo didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.

A production cut of up to 1 million barrels a day is on the table as OPEC and its Russia-led allies, known as OPEC+, meet this weekend in Vienna to decide on a production plan, delegates said. The broader 23-member group accounts for more than half the world’s oil production. The delegates said a cut in production is expected to prop up crude prices amid concerns that a slowing global economy would crimp energy demand. Still, most members don’t want to give up their allotted production quotas as that affects their overall revenues.

If approved, Sunday’s output cut would be the third by members of OPEC+ since October, when they slashed output by 2 million barrels a day. In April, some of the group’s largest members, including Saudi Arabia and Russia, cut a further 1.6 million barrels a day. The decision to cut had drawn rebuke from the U.S., which at the time had requested Saudi Arabia and OPEC to increase production to help tame inflation. It led to U.S. accusations that Riyadh was siding with Moscow in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Brent crude, the international oil benchmark, is down more than 20% since OPEC and its allies first jolted the market with output cuts in October. Another output cut on Sunday isn’t expected to evoke any major reaction from Washington as most analysts expect that oil prices will continue to trend low.

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Bengaluru firm cheats 2,000 students of Rs 18 crore, CEO arrested Police officials said that the CEO, who was identified as Sreenivas of “Geeklurn” had been taken into custody. They are yet to arrest other key members of the management- Chief financial officer Raman P C and Operations head Aman. 

Gold slipped on Friday as hotter-than-expected U.S. jobs data lifted Treasury yields, but was on track for a weekly gain as a higher unemployment reading kept alive hopes that the Federal Reserve would pause interest rate hikes.

Spot gold GOLD was down 1.4% at $1,951.13 per ounce by 14:17 EDT (1817 GMT), after hitting a seven-session high earlier. U.S. gold futures GOLD settled 1.3% higher at $1,969.6.

Bullion has gained 0.2% so far this week, and is set to break a three-week losing streak.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls grew by 339,000 in May, beating expectations for an increase of 190,000, but the unemployment rate rose to 3.7% from a 53-year low of 3.4% in April.

Benchmark 10-year Treasury yields rose, and the dollar ticked up, making the greenback-priced, zero-interest-bearing bullion less attractive.

“The fact that the data is a little mixed is going to cancel itself out where the Fed most likely will look through that data and follow through with whatever they were planning on doing, which right now seems to be a pause,” said Everett Millman, chief market analyst at Gainesville Coins.

Traders priced in a 70% chance that Fed policymakers will leave rates unchanged later this month. 

Philadelphia Fed chief Patrick Harker said on Thursday U.S. central bankers should not raise interest rates at their next meeting. Higher rates increase the opportunity cost of holding bullion.

“This optimism around interest rates has offset any potential losses for gold now that the U.S. has reached agreement on its debt ceiling and avoided defaulting,” Kinesis Money analyst Rupert Rowling wrote in a note.

The U.S. The Senate on Thursday passed bipartisan legislation backed by President Joe Biden to lift the country’s debt ceiling.

Spot silver also set to gain for the week, fell 1.2% to $23.62 per ounce. Platinum PL1! fell 0.7% to $999.15 and palladium advanced 0.8% to $1,405.90, both set for weekly losses.