Enlarged Membership to Boost OPEC’s Clout on Oil Market

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) started enlargement for the first time in over 30 years by admitting Angola at the beginning of 2007, and was poised to tighten the cartel’s grip on the world oil market.

The International Energy Agency said that absorbing Angola, Sudan and Ecuador could impede investment by foreign oil companies in the three countries and slow the growth of spare production to protect consumers from supply shocks.

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