A disagreement over output limits has led Angola to declare it is quitting the Organisation of Petroleum Exporters, or Opec.
It comes after the 13-member cartel and its ten allies decided last month to further reduce oil output in 2024 in an effort to stabilise the unstable world market prices.
Out of the 30 million barrels produced by Opec as a whole, Angola now produces roughly 1.1 million barrels per day.
According to Reuters, oil prices dropped in response to the news, with Brent falling more than $1 to $78.5 a barrel by 12:50 GMT.
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Angola decided to withdraw from OPEC at a cabinet meeting on Thursday.
Diamantino Azevedo, the Minister of Mineral Resources and Petroleum, subsequently stated, “We believe that there is no benefit for Angola to remain in the Organization at this time, and we have decided to withdraw from the Organization in order to protect Angola’s interests.
” “If we remain in her OPEC.
.
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Angola will be forced to cut production, which contradicts our policy of avoiding decline and honoring our contracts.
” The minister said the decision was taken lightly.
He added that it was not a thing.
Angola and Nigeria are the two largest oil exporters in sub-Saharan Africa.
AFP news agency reported that both countries are unhappy with being asked to cut production even though they need to increase their foreign exchange earnings.
Although Angola has vast mineral and oil reserves and its economy is one of the fastest growing countries in the world, economic growth has been highly uneven.
Much of its oil resources are in the breakaway province of Cabinda, which has been embroiled in decades of separatist conflict.
Angola, an OPEC member for 16 years, is not the first country to leave the cartel.
Ecuador, Indonesia and Qatar have also taken similar measures.
OPEC is a coalition of oil producing countries that together with an expanded group called OPEC+ decide how much crude oil to sell on the world market.
After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, crude oil prices soared, exceeding $120 per barrel in June last year.
Prices fell to just over $70 a barrel in May this year, as producers sought to cut production to support the market and in the wake of recent attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea.
It has been steadily rising ever since.