Ecuador to withdraw from OPEC in January 2020

News:Ecuador has decided to withdraw from 14-nation Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) from 1 January 2020.

Facts:

• Ecuador has taken this decision in the backdrop of internal fiscal problems.
• The country is attempting to increase its production of crude oil in a bid to raise more income. 
• Further, Ecuador had also asked Opec for permission to produce oil above its quota but the OPEC has not responded to the request. 

Additional information:

About OPEC:

• The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries(OPEC) is a permanent, intergovernmental Organization.
• It was created at the Baghdad Conference in 1960 by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.It has its headquarters in Vienna, Austria.
• OPEC aims to manage the supply of oil in an effort to set the price of oil on the world market and to avoid fluctuations that might affect the economies of both producing and purchasing countries.
• According to its statutes,OPEC membership is open to any country that is a substantial exporter of oil and which shares the ideals of the organization.
• The current OPEC members are: (a)Algeria (b)Angola (c)Ecuador (d)Equatorial Guinea (e)Gabon (f)Iran (g)Iraq (h)Kuwait, (I)Libya (j)Nigeria (k)the Republic of the Congo (l)Saudi Arabia (j)United Arab Emirates and (k)Venezuela.