Angola has announced its withdrawal from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Membership is not in the national interest of the African country, said Oil Minister Diamantino Azevedo on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting and in a televised speech.
According to the minister, Angola played no relevant role within the energy cartel. In fact, the country, which joined the organization in 2007, is one of the smaller producers within OPEC. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait promote significantly larger shares.
Oil prices on international markets have temporarily fallen by more than two percent
OPEC is currently an association of 13 countries, they are mainly located in the Persian Gulf and Africa, and Venezuela is also a South American country. The main goal of the organization is to agree on the production volume of the respective countries. This is reset at regular intervals to maintain the price level. However, there are disputes within OPEC about the right strategy and appropriate production quantities.
In addition, OPEC has come under increasing pressure in recent years because its global market share of the oil business is continually declining. Some non-OPEC countries, especially the USA, are pushing large quantities of oil onto the market, which is driving down prices. OPEC is trying to counteract this by cooperating with some of the non-OPEC countries; OPEC+ is often mentioned. These OPEC+ countries include Russia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Mexico, Sudan and South Sudan, Bahrain, Oman, Malaysia and Brunei.
All OPEC countries together produce around 28 million barrels per day, a barrel is 159 liters. Last month, OPEC+ lowered Angola’s production target to 1.11 million barrels per day, and Oil Minister Azevedo then sent a protest note to OPEC. According to the Angolan oil minister, if one were to remain a member, sooner or later one could be forced to implement this production cut.
After the decision was published, the price of oil on the international markets temporarily fell by more than two percent.