Angola’s Minister of Oil and fuel Resources announced on Thursday that the West African nation has chosen to withdraw from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC.
The decision was revealed following a meeting of the nation’s Council of Ministers, presided over by Angolan President Joao Lourenco.
Minister Diamantino de Azevedo explained the decision to reporters, stating, “We feel that at this moment Angola gains nothing by remaining in the organisation and, in defence of its interests, it decided to leave.”
Reports indicate that this move comes in response to OPEC’s decision last month to reduce Angola’s 2024 petroleum output target to 1.11 million barrels per day, a figure that Angola expressed disagreement with. In protest, the oil minister reportedly sent a formal note expressing discontent.
Angola’s OPEC governor, Estevao Pedro, had previously expressed the nation’s dissatisfaction with the assigned target, stating that Angola did not plan to adhere to it.
According to data from the CEIC economic firm as of October, Angola had been averaging around 1.6 million barrels per day.
Following this announcement, the initial impact on the trading price of oil was a decline of approximately one dollar, bringing it down to $78.50 per barrel.
