Angola leaves OPEC

Against the backdrop of a conflict in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries over oil production quotas, Angola announced that it disagrees with OPEC’s policies and announced that it was leaving the cartel.

The Angolan Minister of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, Diamontino Azevedo, said on television on Thursday, December 21, that membership in OPEC does not meet the country’s national interests, it intends to focus on its own goals, writes D.W.

Azevedo criticized the fact that Angola “has so far had no influence” on the quotas regularly set by OPEC, but must adhere to them and bear the consequences of the cartel’s decisions. If Angola remained a member, sooner or later it could be forced to reduce oil production, which would be contrary to the interests of the country, he emphasized.

After Luanda announced its withdrawal, oil prices continued to fall. Brent oil fell more than 2% to $78.11 per barrel. Over the past months, OPEC and its ten partner countries, united in the OPEC+ group, have repeatedly reduced oil production volumes in order to raise prices on the world market. However, due to weak demand, this goal was never achieved. However, current oil prices, between $70 and $80 a barrel, are above the average for the past five years.

At the organization’s last meeting in November, Angola and Nigeria already expressed their dissatisfaction with the introduction of quotas. Due to disagreements within OPEC, the adoption of the relevant decision was postponed for several days. Saudi Arabia and Russia subsequently announced further production cuts, and other countries followed suit with smaller cuts.

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