Membership

The Organization now has twelve member states. They are listed below with their affiliation dates. Note that although the official language of a 7-nation majority of OPEC member-states is Arabic, OPEC's official language is English. Only one member nation (Nigeria) has English as an official language.

Africa

* Flag of Algeria Algeria (July 1969)
* Flag of Angola Angola (January 2007)
* Flag of Libya Libya (December 1962)
* Flag of Nigeria Nigeria (July 1971)

Middle East

* Flag of Iran Iran (September 1960)
* Flag of Iraq Iraq (September 1960) (Excluded from OPEC production quotas since 1998)
* Flag of Kuwait Kuwait (September, 1960)
* Flag of Qatar Qatar (December 1961)
* Flag of Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia (September 1960)
* Flag of United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates (November 1967)

South America

* Flag of Venezuela Venezuela (September 1960)

Southeast Asia

* Flag of Indonesia Indonesia (December 1962; membership currently under review as Indonesia is no longer considered by OPEC as a net oil exporter; see also current acting OPEC secretaries general)**

Former Members

* Flag of Gabon Gabon (full member from 1975 to 1995)
* Flag of Ecuador Ecuador (full member from 1963 to 1993), expressed interest in rejoining (November 2006) [3]

Prospective Members

* Flag of Bolivia Bolivia, Flag of Mexico Mexico, and Flag of Syria Syria have been invited by OPEC to join.[2]
* Flag of Sudan Sudan and Flag of Ecuador Ecuador are currently seeking membership.[