OPEC NATIONS - INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS 

News: Angola quits OPEC amid dispute over oil production quotas

 

What's in the news?

       Angola announced it’s leaving OPEC following 16 years of membership amid a dispute over oil production quotas, while the cartel tries to buoy global prices.

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC):

       It is an intergovernmental organization established at Baghdad Conference in 1960.

 

Founding Members – Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.

 

Other members – Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, and the United Arab Emirates.

 

Biggest Single Oil Supplier – Saudi Arabia (more than 10 million barrels a day)

 

Headquarters – Vienna, Austria.

 

Key Objectives:

       To coordinate and unify petroleum policies among member countries.

       To secure fair and stable prices for petroleum producers.

       To ensure efficient, economic, and regular supply of petroleum to consuming nations.

 

Significance of OPEC:

       It possesses more than 80% of the world’s total crude oil reserves.

       OPEC nations produce about 30% of the world’s crude oil.