Angola announces exit from OPEC

LUANDA - Angola on Thursday announced its withdrawal from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), according to the Angolan government's Facebook page.

The decision followed a session of the Council of Ministers, which took place on the same day at the Presidential Palace in the national capital of Luanda.

"Angola has always fulfilled its obligations and fought all the time to see OPEC modernize and help its members gain advantages. We feel that at this moment Angola gains nothing by staying in the organization and, in defense of its interests, decided to leave," Diamantino Pedro Azevedo, minister of mineral resources, oil and gas, said in the press room of the Presidential Palace, as cited by the government's Facebook page.

"When we see that we are in organizations and our contributions, our ideas do not produce any effect, it is better to withdraw. We joined in 2006 voluntarily and decided to leave now also voluntarily. And this is not an unconsidered, impulsive decision," said the minister.

Angola is one of the largest oil exporters in sub-Saharan Africa.