OPEC holds membership talks with 4 countries

The Secretary-General of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Heysem al-Ghais, said that they are holding consultation talks with four countries to join OPEC. Gays made a statement to the official agency of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), WAM. Gays, who stated that they are currently holding talks with Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Brunei and Mexico to become members of the OPEC group, stated that this will strengthen OPEC. Secretary-General Gays noted the following: "Consultations with new countries that are not members of OPEC contribute to the harmony and strengthening of the organization. OPEC does not target the membership of a certain number of countries; it targets countries that share the same strategic orientation as itself in terms of maintaining oil markets and stability." Gays, who said that the four countries with whom the consultation talks were held have been in solidarity with OPEC since 2017, drew attention to the fact that all these countries have a common goal "to stabilize oil markets." The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and some non-OPEC producing countries, including Russia, established the OPEC+ group in Algeria in 2016. OPEC currently consists of 13 member countries, the largest producer among them being Saudi Arabia, with a daily production capacity of 11 million barrels.