Source: News on Air
Context
Seven core OPEC+ nations decided in a virtual meeting to keep their crude oil output targets unchanged for October — amid global economic uncertainty and continuing supply disruptions across the Middle East and the Strait of Hormuz.
What OPEC+ Is
- An expanded coalition of OPEC member states and key non-OPEC oil-exporting nations
- Working collectively to regulate crude oil supply and manage global energy markets
- Formed in late 2016 through the Declaration of Cooperation, signed in Vienna, Austria
Membership
- OPEC members include Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Algeria, Nigeria, Venezuela and others
- Non-OPEC partners include Russia, Kazakhstan, Oman, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Brunei, Malaysia, Mexico, South Sudan and Sudan
Important Facts for Exams
- OPEC founded 1960, at the Baghdad Conference; headquartered at Vienna, Austria
- Founding five: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela
- OPEC+ formed late 2016 via the Declaration of Cooperation, Vienna
- Trigger for OPEC+: the US shale surge of 2014–16 crashing prices
- JMMC — Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee, which reviews compliance and market conditions
- Seven Sisters — the dominant Western oil majors before OPEC
- Angola exited OPEC in 2024; Qatar left in 2019; Indonesia suspended membership
- Strait of Hormuz — between Iran and Oman, connecting the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman; roughly a fifth of global oil passes through it
- Other chokepoints: Strait of Malacca, Bab el-Mandeb, Suez Canal, Panama Canal, Turkish Straits
- India imports over 85 per cent of its crude; major suppliers include Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Russia and the UAE
- India is a member of the International Energy Agency (IEA) as an association country, not OPEC
- India maintains Strategic Petroleum Reserves at Visakhapatnam, Mangaluru and Padur
