Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
- What is it?: It is a permanent intergovernmental organization of oil-exporting countries.
- Headquarters: Vienna, Austria.
- Mission:
- To coordinate and unify the petroleum policies of its Member Countries.
- Ensure the stabilization of oil prices in the international oil markets, with a view to eliminating harmful and unnecessary fluctuations.
- Formation: It was established in 1960 by the five founding members Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.
- Members: It has 13 members, including Algeria, Angola, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Libya, Nigeria, and the United Arab Emirates.
OPEC+
- It is a group of oil exporters consisting of 23 member countries which meet regularly to decide how much crude oil to sell on the world market.
- It comprises 13 OPEC countries plus Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan, Russia, Mexico, Malaysia, South Sudan, Sudan, and Oman.