Equatorial Guinea awaits decision on OPEC membership bid-Minister

Africa’s third oil producer Equatorial Guinea has held  discussions and expects a decision soon on an offer to join the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), the energy minister said on Wednesday.

The Mines and Hydrocarbons Minister, Gabriel Mbaga Obiang, said in Cape Town the country had held “fruitful” discussions with OPEC on it membership of the organisation.

“This is going to move faster than we expect,” Obiang said.

According to him, Equatorial Guinea, which agreed to production cuts in 2017 as part of a coordinated agreement with OPEC and non-OPEC countries, wants a stable global oil price.

He said the country was willing to discuss further cooperation with OPEC to achieve this.

“We are eager to see a stabilisation of the petroleum market, and we were happy to cooperate with the current production cuts to do our part in reducing the global oversupply.

“We would be open to discussing future endeavours of cooperation,” Obiang said.

On Monday, the energy ministry said the country had applied to join the oil producers’ cartel, seeking to become OPEC’s 14th member and the sixth from Africa.

The membership would help raise the continent’s influence and profile in the corridors of global oil production and pricing.

The offer to join was made when Obiang traveled to Vienna last Friday to meet OPEC officials, including Saudi Arabia and Nigeria’s Mohammad Barkindo, the current secretary general of the cartel.

He also met officials from key non-OPEC producer Russia.