Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) +

In News

  • OPEC+ agreed to stick to its oil output targets at a meeting.

About

  • OPEC: Founded in 1960, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) initially comprised Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela as its founding members to ‘unify and co-ordinate its member nations’ petroleum policies in order to secure a regular supply of petroleum to consumers and a fair return to investors.
    • Countries like Qatar, Indonesia, Libya, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Algeria (1969), Nigeria, Ecuador, Gabon, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and Congo later joined the group.
    •  However, Ecuador, Indonesia and Qatar suspended their membership in 2020, 2016 and 2019 respectively – reducing the strength to thirteen countries currently.
  • OPEC+: In 2016, OPEC+ was created with the OPEC member nations allying with ten other oil-producing countries Russia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, South Sudan and Sudan – inflating the group’s strength to twenty-three. 
    • While the OPEC Statute states that ‘any country with a substantial net export of crude petroleum, which has fundamentally similar interests to those of Member Countries may be admitted under special conditions, the formation of the OPEC+ group was seen as a response to protect their interests amid the rise of the U.S. shale industry.
  • OPEC countries effectively control more than 79% of the world’s crude supplies, regulating oil prices as per their interests.

Source:TH