Yemisi Izuora
Equatorial Guinea has joined African Petroleum Producers Association (APPA)to seek action on reduction of oil production so as to stabilize the market.
“We are reviewing our budget due to lower oil prices. We have supported these initiatives that allow us to study how to jointly stabilize prices in the future,” said Minister of Mines, Industry and Energy of Equatorial Guinea, Gabriel Mbega Obiang Lima.
He also recalled the importance of diversifying the economies of individual states in order to reduce dependence on oil, as the government of Equatorial Guinea is currently doing.
African countries rely on revenues from petroleum production to finance needed development, infrastructure improvements, and efforts to build robust economies and improve standards of living.
APPA’s initiative seeks the support of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to reduce the amount of oil on the global market and consequently reach a stable world price at a higher level.
The APPA was created in 1987 in Lagos, Nigeria and is composed of eighteen countries, including Equatorial Guinea.
The Republic of Equatorial Guinea (República de Guinea Ecuatorial) is the only Spanish-speaking country in Africa, and one of the smallest nations on the continent. In the late-1990s, American companies helped discover the country’s oil and natural gas resources, which only within the last five years began contributing to the global energy supply.
Equatorial Guinea is now working to serve as a pillar of stability and security in its region of West Central Africa.
The country hosted the 2011 Summit of the African Union.