OPEC has restricted access to reporters from Reuters, Bloomberg and The Wall Street Journal to an upcoming meeting of oil industry leaders with energy ministers from member countries and their allies, Reuters reports.

The three media organizations are among the largest in the world, and two of them specialize in financial news.

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its allies OPEC+ include countries such as Saudi Arabia and Russia. OPEC+ accounts for more than 40% of global oil production.

OPEC refused to comment on why journalists from 3 mass media were not invited to the next seminar it is holding on July 5-6 in Vienna.

“We believe that transparency and a free press serve readers as well as markets and the public interest, and we object to this restriction,” a Reuters spokesman told Reuters, assuring the agency would continue to report on OPEC in an “independent, unbiased and unbiased manner.” reliable”.

“We are very concerned about the prospect of OPEC barring certain journalists, including Bloomberg, from next week’s workshop,” Bloomberg News also said in a press release.

It will be the second consecutive OPEC+ event that OPEC has restricted media access to, after all three media organizations were denied access to the June 4 meeting in Vienna.

However, other publications in the field, such as the Financial Times, were invited to participate.