Historic Declaration of Cooperation of OPEC, non-OPEC oil-producing countries turns 6

The Declaration of Cooperation (DoC) between Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) Member Countries and 10 non-OPEC oil-producing countries turned six on Saturday Dec. 10, 2022.

On this date in 2016, OPEC Member Countries and Azerbaijan; the Kingdom of Bahrain; Brunei Darussalam; Equatorial Guin; Kazakhstan; Malaysia; Mexico; Sultanate of Oman; Russian Federation; Republic of Sudan; and Republic of South Sudan established the DoC.

These countries, at the OPEC Headquarters in Vienna, Austria, decided to establish the DoC as a platform for cooperation and dialogue in the interest of oil market stability.

OPEC Secretary-General, Haitham Al Ghais, in a statement on Thursday said the DoC was an unprecedented collaborative framework of 23 oil-producing countries that was based on trust, mutual respect and dialogue.

Al Ghais recalled that six years later, the framework continued to play an instrumental role in supporting market stability, which was essential for growth and development, as well as attracting the necessary investment to ensure energy security.

According to him, the DoC aims to secure sustainable oil market stability through cooperation and dialogue, including at the research and technical levels, for the benefit of all producers, consumers and investors, as well as the global economy at large.

He said the commitment of the DoC participants to a stable oil market had once again been evident following the severe oil market contraction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pivotal decisions taken at the inaugural OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting built on the successful ‘Algiers Accord’ signed in Algiers, Algeria, on Sept. 2016 at its 170th meeting and subsequent ‘Vienna Agreement’ decided on Nov. 30, 2016 in Vienna, Austria, at the 171st Meeting of the OPEC conference.