Saudi Arabia minimizes the consequences of Ecuador’s withdrawal from OPEC

The withdrawal of Ecuador from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will not significantly affect the work of the organization, since the contribution of this Latin American nation is minimal, said on Tuesday, October 2, 2019 the Minister of Energy of Saudi Arabia , Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman.

“Each country has the right to do what it wants and should… Regarding its contribution to the efforts of OPEC and other producers, (that of Ecuador) is relatively small.

Saudi Arabia minimizes the consequences of Ecuador’s withdrawal from OPEC

With all due respect, I think it’s a drop in the ocean, ”he said in the framework of the Russian Energy Week.

Ecuador, the smallest partner of OPEC, announced the day before it will leave the organization on January 1, 2020 in response to its new fiscal savings needs and also to increase its export quota without restrictions.

The measure is aligned in that sense with the Government’s plan led by the Ecuadorian president, Lenín Moreno, “to reduce public spending and generate new income.”

Conditions that are framed in the commitments acquired by the country last March, when he asked the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international financial institutions for a credit line for more than 10,000 million dollars.

In that line, government sources explained that the decision generates an immediate saving of the membership, which they did not know how to quantify, but above all, will allow Ecuador to get out of any production restriction and thus enter more by placing more crude oil in the markets.

Source: https://www.eltelegrafo.com.ec/noticias/economia/4/arabia-saudi-retirada-ecuador-opep