ANGOLA PULLS OUT OF OPEC AMID DISPUTE OVER OIL PRODUCTION QUOTA

Thu 21 December 2023:

Due to disagreements over oil production quotas, Angola will leave OPEC, according to Oil Minister Diamantino Pedro Azevedo.

According to ANGOP news agency, the decision was made during a meeting of the Council of Ministers that was presided over by President Joao Lourenco of Angola.

Azevedo told state broadcaster TPA that while the decision was not made lightly, the African nation’s interests were no longer served by its membership in OPEC.

An OPEC member since 2007, Angola produces over 1.1 million barrels per day of crude oil. The southern African country is the second-largest oil producer on the continent.

“If we remained in OPEC … Angola would be forced to cut production and this goes against our policy of avoiding decline and respecting contracts,” Azevedo said.

Earlier this month, the OPEC group announced the updated production quotas for some countries as agreed during the previous ministerial meeting in June.

According to assessments by three independent sources, including IHS, Wood Mackenzie and Rystad Energy, production levels of Angola, Congo and Nigeria were set as 1.11 million barrels per day (bpd), 277,000 bpd and 1.5 million bpd, respectively.

The decision led the group’s latest meeting on Dec. 4 to be postponed for four days, the longest delay of a meeting in OPEC’s history. The postponement was caused by dissatisfaction of some countries about the updated production quotas.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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