On this day in 2016, OPEC Member Countries and Azerbaijan, the Kingdom of Bahrain, Brunei Darussalam, Equatorial Guinea (which later joined OPEC), Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Sultanate of Oman, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Sudan, and the Republic of South Sudan gathered in Vienna, Austria, at the OPEC Headquarters to embark on a new era of cooperation to support sustainable stability in the global oil market. Other producers attended the meeting in support of these extraordinary efforts.
The birth of the DoC built on the successful ‘Algiers Accord’, signed in Algiers, Algeria, on 28 September 2016 at the 170th (Extraordinary) Meeting of the OPEC Conference and the subsequent ‘Vienna Agreement’, decided on 30 November of the same year in Vienna, Austria, at the 171st Meeting of the OPEC Conference.
OPEC Secretary General, Mohammad Sanusi Barkindo, stated: "The Declaration of Cooperation is an unprecedented collaborative framework of leading oil producers that saw the need to come together during a critical juncture in the global oil industry. If it was not for this group of countries and the courageous act that they have undertaken, the oil sector would, without a doubt, be in a different situation.
"Looking back to 2016, very few believed that the collaborative efforts would grow and evolve into a major, robust cooperative force to help restore much needed stability in the global oil market. However, the 23 oil-producing countries have continued to rise to the challenges they have encountered, including instrumenting effective and visionary policies to combat the devastating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic."
The inaugural OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting saw participating countries take several decisions in view of oil market conditions and prospects in the short and medium terms, as well as in recognition of the need for joint cooperation by oil producers to achieve sustainable oil market stability in the interest of producers, consumers, investors, and the global economy. It also recalled the rights of peoples and nations to permanent sovereignty over their natural wealth and resources.
Non-OPEC participants adopted a voluntary downward production adjustment, supporting OPEC’s decision of the 171st Meeting of the OPEC Conference. Additionally, three non-OPEC countries joined the high-level ministerial monitoring committee established through the ‘Vienna Agreement’, which is mandated to review the decisions’ successful implementation. The Ministers also highlighted the importance of strengthening cooperation at the technical level.
In response to the severe oil market contraction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the DoC’s 23 countries adopted the largest-in-size and longest-in-time voluntary oil production adjustment in the history of OPEC and the oil industry, demonstrating their continued commitment to a stable oil market.
These efforts have supported the global pandemic recovery process and were recognized at the highest levels of government and by other international organizations and academia.
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