Indonesia will return to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in December after a six-year break, the country's minister of energy and mineral resources, Sudirman Said, confirmed.
“We have received an official confirmation from the OPEC secretary-general that all the members (of organization) welcomed the reinstatement of Indonesia as a full member,” Said announced on Monday, Sputnik reported.
He added that the Asian country would be an official participant in the next OPEC session, due to take place on December 4 in Vienna, Austria.
OPEC agreed to suspend Indonesia’s membership in September 2008 at the country’s own request, almost half a century after the nation joined.
The country pumped 852,000 barrels a day of oil in 2014 and consumed almost twice as much, according to BP Plc.
It is Southeast Asia’s largest oil producer, but the nation of 250 million people has imported for years because of aging wells and exploration failures. Consumption is continuing to rise but an unpredictable legal system and bureaucracy has deterred foreign investors.
In 2009, Indonesia suspended its membership of OPEC, although delegations from Jakarta continued to attend meetings of the organization as observers.
OPEC is an international organization founded by oil exporting nations in 1960 for the purpose of coordinating their crude oil market share.
Currently, OPEC has 12 members after several composition changes, specifically Angola's accession and the return of Ecuador in 2007.
