OPEC has eleven members after two departures since 2024
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries was founded in Baghdad in September 1960. This list counts its full members under its own Statute on 28 September 2026, and there are eleven. Five are the founders. The other six are African producers that joined from the 1960s onward. The count has fallen recently. Angola left on 1 January 2024 after a dispute over production quotas, and the United Arab Emirates left on 1 May 2026 after 59 years as a member. Ecuador, Qatar and Indonesia had left before them and have not rejoined. Countries that work with OPEC through OPEC+ without joining it are not on this list.
Name them all first. Then name the five founders, then the six African members.
OPEC+ partners do not count as OPEC members
OPEC+ adds a set of partner countries that signed the Declaration of Cooperation without joining OPEC itself. They sit outside OPEC's Statute, so they are not members and do not count here. When a question asks for the members of OPEC, the answer is eleven countries. The partners that belong only to OPEC+ are a separate list with their own module.
Check yourself
Can you name every member of OPEC?
Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait and Venezuela founded OPEC in September 1960; Libya joined in 1962, Algeria in 1969, Nigeria in 1971, Gabon in 1975 (it left in 1995 and rejoined in 2016), Equatorial Guinea in 2017 and the Republic of the Congo in 2018. Angola left on 1 January 2024 and the United Arab Emirates on 1 May 2026, and Ecuador, Qatar and Indonesia had left earlier, so none of them counts.
Check yourself
Can you name the five countries that founded OPEC in 1960?
The five countries that founded OPEC in Baghdad in September 1960.
Check yourself
Can you name the six African members, which joined between 1962 and 2018?
North and sub-Saharan African producers: Libya joined in 1962, Algeria 1969, Nigeria 1971, Gabon 1975 and again 2016, Equatorial Guinea 2017, Congo 2018.