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