Angola Quits OPEC to stand alone

According to ANGOP, President João Lourenço led a meeting where Angola’s oil minister, Diamantino de Azevedo, confirmed the country’s exit from OPEC. Angola, Nigeria, and other OPEC members disagreed over oil production quotas, which led to this decision.

Due to their past underperformance and inability to meet quotas—mainly as a result of inadequate investment in new fields and the maturation of older ones—Angola and Nigeria were given reduced crude oil production quotas earlier this year under the terms of the OPEC+ agreement.

A meeting of OPEC was postponed due to tensions over the quotas of African nations. This disagreement might have resulted in more pressure being placed on Nigeria, Angola, and the Congo to reduce their production further; Saudi Arabia, which has been carrying a ignificant portion of the burden within the agreement.

Initially, Angola had denied any intentions of leaving OPEC, as expressed by Angola’s OPEC governor, Estevao Pedro, who reassured markets that the country had no plans to take such a drastic step. However, recent disagreements over production quotas seem to have shifted Angola’s perspective on the benefits of maintaining OPEC membership.

Angola’s decision to join OPEC in 2007 was a significant move for a country holding substantial untapped oil and gas resources, estimated at 9 billion barrels of proven crude oil reserves and 11 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves.