The United Arab Emirates is leaving OPEC, the organization that unites oil-exporting countries, starting from May 1.
Excluding the United Arab Emirates, the organization currently includes Equatorial Guinea, Algeria, Iraq, Iran, Congo, Kuwait, Libya, Gabon, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.
Medianews.az reports that OPEC was founded in 1960 by Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.
Qatar joined in 1961, Indonesia and Libya in 1962, the United Arab Emirates in 1967, Algeria in 1969, Nigeria in 1971, Ecuador in 1973, Gabon in 1975, Angola in 2007, Equatorial Guinea in 2017, and Congo in 2018.
Ecuador left the organization in 1992, returned in 2007, and left again in 2020.
Indonesia left the organization in 2009, returned in 2016, but withdrew again the same year.
Gabon left the organization in 1995 and returned in 2016.
Qatar left the organization in 2019, and Angola in 2024.
The headquarters of OPEC is located in Vienna, the capital of Austria.
The OPEC+ coalition has also been active since 2016. In this format, besides OPEC members, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brazil, Brunei, South Sudan, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, Oman, Russia, and Sudan are represented.
The coalition regulates the daily production quotas of crude oil. Iran, Libya, and Venezuela, which are part of OPEC, do not participate in these agreements.
Toğrul Ali,
Medianews.az