- Secretary-General Al-Ghais sends letter to Energy Ministry
- Quito quit OPEC when it struggled to abide by quotas in 2019
According to Bloomberg article published on May 16, 2023, OPEC invited Ecuador to rejoin the oil producers’ group just over three years after its departure, according to a letter received by the country’s Energy Ministry.
Secretary-General Haitham Al-Ghais wrote that readmission of the Latin American nation is a “top priority” for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, and offered to visit to “explain the multiple advantages” of membership.
Quito decided to exit the organization in late 2019 when it was exceeding agreed production quotas, and sought to shift its focus to maximizing revenues. The country was among one of OPEC’s smallest producers at the time, pumping around 540,000 barrels a day — barely a sixth of the volume now produced by a major member like the United Arab Emirates.
Ecuador had previously suspended its membership in 1992, only to rejoin in 2007.
