What is the full form of OPEC

OPEC: Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

OPEC stands for Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It is an organization of oil-producing countries; Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. OPEC is headquartered at Vienna in Austria; initially, during the first five years of its existence, it was in Geneva, Switzerland.

Key Functions:

• To coordinate the petroleum policies of the member countries.
• Provide technical assistance and economic aid to the member countries.
• To focus on setting the oil price on the world market by managing the supply of oil.
• To hold meetings at regular intervals to discuss important issues related to oil like production, pricing, distribution, etc.

Brief History:

• OPEC was founded in September 1960 at the Baghdad Conference by five countries (founding members); Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.
• In 1962, it was registered at the UN as a legally competent international organization.
• The five founding countries were later joined by nine countries; Qatar (1961), Indonesia ( 1962), Libya(1962), the United Arab Emirates (1967), Algeria (1969), Nigeria (1971), Ecuador ( 1973), Gabon (1975), and Angola(2007).
• Indonesia suspended its membership in 2009, joined again in 2016, but suspended its membership again on 30 November 2016. So, at present, OPEC has 13 member countries.
• As of 2015, OPEC member countries have more than 80% of the world's crude oil reserves, and they account for around 40% of the world's oil production.