"Angola is right to contest, especially due to the way in which OPEC determined the quotas for three African countries (Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo and Nigeria) differently", the expert told Lusa on Friday, noting that Angola marked the its position and must remain in the cartel.
José Oliveira states that there are "huge differences" in the way the aforementioned African countries were treated, recalling that the Democratic Republic of Congo was allowed to maintain current production in 2024 and Nigeria, "strangely, was authorized to produce 1,500 thousand barrels per day next year."
"Therefore, at a critical moment, Nigeria is given 300,000 more barrels of production capacity, which is incorrect and Angola intends to take away," he stressed.
"Angola is right to react in this way, particularly given the way its quota was established", he insisted.
For the specialist and researcher at the Center for Studies and Scientific Research (CEIC) at the Catholic University of Angola, OPEC took a different look at African countries, compared to the Gulf countries "which all offered a 5 percent reduction to 6 percent more or less".
The governor of Angola at the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) said that Luanda rejected the quota assigned by the cartel, which predicted a reduction, and will maintain the target of 1,180 thousand barrels per day for 2024.
Speaking to Lusa, at the end of the 36th ministerial meeting of this organization of 23 countries, in which production quotas for its members were decided from January 1, 2024, Estevão Pedro said that "Angola does not agree" with the decision.
"We had already presented our data, taking into account the country's capabilities, but, in the meantime, the decision (by OPEC+) went against the amount we predicted", he highlighted.
OPEC+ presented a target of 1,110 thousand barrels/day, while Angola wants to produce an additional 70 thousand barrels.
According to the official, during the meeting, Angola reaffirmed its position, but contrary to the unanimity that has been usual, OPEC decided on a quota in which Angola does not agree.
Regarding Angola's position in OPEC, following his challenge, José Oliveira stated that he is a member who protested, considering that a possible possibility of the country leaving the organization would be a "political error".
"For me, thinking about it (leaving the organization) is a political mistake, you don't have to think about leaving, you didn't agree, you disagreed, you communicated, you have an argument and stay quiet", he defended.
"As it will not be, in practice, affected, because next year's average will not be higher than 1,100 thousand barrels per day, in principle, it marked its position, this will perhaps be useful in future positions. This hypothesis of leaving is to forget, it would be a political mistake", concluded José Oliveira.
