LUANDA: Opec Secretary General Abdullah El-Badri held talks with the oil cartel s newest member Angola on Monday focusing on oil prices and production, state media reported. The key issue for observers is at what level the Opec group, which regulates oil supply from its members to control prices, will fix the production quota for Angola, a country with fast-growing production. No quota has been announced since the country became the 12th member of Opec in January after being admitted at an extraordinary meeting of Opec members in the Nigerian capital Abuja in December. Issues on the agenda for the meeting on Monday were a report on production monitoring, Opec s production capacity and the latest developments in the oil market, the official Angop news agency said. The Opec team, which arrived in the capital on Saturday at the invitation of Angolan Oil Minister Desiderio Costa, is also scheduled to visit the state-run oil firm Sonangol as well as the sister infrastructure company Sonils. Angola, a southwestern African country, was ravaged by a 27-year war which finally ended in 2002. The country is currently sub-Sahara Africa s second-largest oil producer after Nigeria. Currently producing 1.4 million barrels per day, Angola plans to increase its production levels to two million barrels per day by the end of this year. There has been speculation that Opec will fix a production limit of 2.0 million barrels per day. The country s admission into Opec brings the cartel s production to more than 32 million barrels per day, which accounts for almost 40 percent of the world s total oil supply. Opec members have about 75 percent of the world s proven oil reserves. Opec s other members are Algeria, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Indonesia, Nigeria, Venezuela, Kuwait and Qatar.
