Angola is leaving OPEC, driving the membership to just 12 countries
Angola has announced its departure from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Angola, an OPEC member since 2007, currently produces approximately 1.1 million barrels per day (bpd) out of OPEC's total output of 28 million bpd. Founded in 1960, OPEC initially consisted of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Venezuela, Iran, and Iraq, with Angola joining later in 2007.
Since 2017, OPEC has collaborated with non-members like Russia in the OPEC+ group to manage the global oil market, and Angola has been part of these agreements. However, due to declining investment, Angola has struggled to meet its OPEC+ output quota in recent years.
With Angola's departure, OPEC will be left with 12 members, producing around 27 million bpd, representing 27% of the global oil market's total output of 102 million bpd. This move follows similar decisions by other nations with relatively small oil production, such as Qatar leaving in 2019 to focus on gas, Ecuador exiting in 2020, and Indonesia suspending its membership in 2016. Some small producers, like Equatorial Guinea (2017), Gabon (2016), and Congo (2018), have joined OPEC in recent years.
