The Republic of Congo has pledged its commitment to the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) following the membership withdrawal of neighbor Angola.
The statement was issued by the country’s oil minister Bruno Jean-Richard Itoua on Saturday.
Speaking over the weekend, Itoua said “The Republic of Congo reaffirms its steadfast commitment to the strategic policy defined by the Secretary-General of OPEC and OPEC+,”
“Congo is committed to continuing close and constructive collaboration with all member countries,” Itoua said in a LinkedIn post.
This comes after Nigeria’s minister of state for petroleum, Heineken Lokpobiri, stated that his country’s stance remained unshakable on Friday and reiterated its commitment to OPEC.
The Saudi-led club of oil producers has set a target of 277,000 barrels per day (bpd) for Congo, which joined OPEC as a full member in 2018.
Following years of missing earlier expectations, Nigeria—Africa’s largest oil producer—and Angola were two of the nations assigned reduced output targets for 2024.
The South African nation of Angola decided to exit the oil cartel, OPEC, on Thursday, stating that its membership in the bloc because its membership no longer serves the country’s interests
“We feel that … Angola currently gains nothing by remaining in the organisation and, in defense of its interests, decided to leave,” Angola’s oil minister, Diamantino Azevedo, said in a presidential statement.