- Qatar (initially joined in 1961 but terminated its membership in 2019).
- Indonesia (initially joined in 1962, suspended its membership in 2009, and reactivated again in 2016, only to suspend it later that year).
- Ecuador (initially joined in 1973, suspended its membership in 1992, rejoined again in 2007, but withdrew its membership in 2020).
- Angola withdrew its membership effective 1 January 2024
The current members of OPEC will also coordinate with other non-members during periods of significant market instability. In 2016, OPEC signed an agreement with 10 other oil-producing nations, creating a group called OPEC+. These additional members are Russia, Mexico, Kazakhstan, Oman, Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Bahrain, South Sudan, Brunei, and Sudan. OPEC+ members have worked to coordinate their oil production policies in recent years to help stabilize global supplies and prices.
How does OPEC affect the oil market?
OPEC members collectively produced 42.8 million barrels of oil per day in 2024, accounting for 38% of the world's oil supply. Its largest producer is Saudi Arabia, the second-biggest in the world behind the U.S. Because OPEC controls so much global production capacity, it has a lot of influence on the global oil market.
OPEC members will coordinate their collective supplies to influence oil prices by setting production quotas. If oil prices are falling due to excess supply (caused by weak demand or additional production from non-member nations), OPEC will reduce the quotas of its members to cut global oil supplies. Lower production should eventually boost oil prices. Conversely, in an undersupplied global oil market (due to strong demand or unexpected supply issues), OPEC will use some of its spare capacity to increase global supplies to prevent prices from rising too much.
