The African Petroleum Producers’ Organization (APPO) declared its support for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries today in Vienna at the 173th meeting of the organization, as members of the organization decided to continue the oil production cuts until the end of 2018.
The Executive Secretary of the APPO Mahaman Laouan Gaya announced the organization’s support and commitment to reaffirming the oil production cuts, citing the cuts’ effectiveness in stabilizing the oil markets in 2017 and the important role both OPEC and non-OPEC countries have in continuing to stabilize the markets.
“We reaffirm our full support for the OPEC and non-OPEC Declaration of Cooperation and support to other initiatives that will lead to significant and sustainable markets,” the APPO said in a press release.
OPEC and key non-member OPEC states, including Russia, agreed today to extend the production cuts until the end of 2018. The OPEC-led initiative to stabilize the oil markets by reducing a supply glut has boosted oil prices into the $60 range. The deal will maintain cuts of 1.8 million barrels per day, but included key changes to the original agreement, including capping the outputs of both Nigeria and Libya at 2017 levels, and leaving room for a potential early exit from the deal if the market conditions are right.
The APPO, which includes members include key global oil producers like Nigeria, Angola and Equatorial Guinea, was invited to participate at the OPEC meeting as an observer at the meeting for the first time in its history. The APPO was created in 1987 in Lagos to act as a platform for coordination and cooperation for African petroleum producing countries, and currently has 14 members: Algeria, Angola, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Gabon, Equatorial Guinea, South Africa, Libya and Nigeria.
