Angola announces exit from OPEC amid dispute over oil production quota

By Handan Kazanci

ISTANBUL (AA) – Angola will exit OPEC over disagreements on oil production quotas, state-run media reported on Thursday, citing Oil Minister Diamantino Pedro Azevedo.

The decision was taken at a session of the Council of Ministers, chaired by Angolan President Joao Lourenco, according to ANGOP news agency.

Speaking to state broadcaster TPA, Azevedo said the decision was not taken lightly, but OPEC membership no longer served the African country's interests.

"If we remained in OPEC … Angola would be forced to cut production and this goes against our policy of avoiding decline and respecting contracts," Azevedo said.

Earlier this month, the OPEC group announced the updated production quotas for some countries as agreed during the previous ministerial meeting in June.

According to assessments by three independent sources, including IHS, Wood Mackenzie and Rystad Energy, production levels of Angola, Congo and Nigeria were set as 1.11 million barrels per day (bpd), 277,000 bpd and 1.5 million bpd, respectively.

The decision led the group's latest meeting on Dec. 4 to be postponed for four days, the longest delay of a meeting in OPEC's history. The postponement was caused by dissatisfaction of some countries about the updated production quotas.

An OPEC member since 2007, Angola produces over 1.1 million barrels per day of crude oil. The southern African country is the second-largest oil producer on the continent.