(Ecofin Agency) - The President of Gabon, Ali Bongo (photo), has said that the country is planning to return to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and is making efforts to bring together other African countries for a more organized reaction to the declining oil prices in the global market.

According to the president, Several members of OPEC have requested that the country return to the group after it left 21 years ago as oil producers are looking to work together to make prices become stable but Gabon has not arrived at a decision yet.
Gabon has slashed its budget twice as a result of declining crude sales. The country needs a global price of about $60 a barrel and Bongo has said that anything below $50 is a major problem.

“What is important for us is how we can work with OPEC towards fighting against this situation of oil prices going down. It is just important that all the members be going in the same direction. With prices going from $100-plus to less than $40, you can understand how we feel. It’s like you were having a nice dream and all of a sudden, you go into a nightmare,” he said.

Gabon like Nigeria, depends on petroleum for half its gross domestic product (GDP) and three quarters of exports. The country is currently planning more budget cuts this year but the president is hoping that it will not be implemented.

Ever since Gabon which is the fifth-largest producer of oil in sub-Saharan Africa left OPEC in 1995 production has witnessed a 28% drop. The country expects production to stabilize to approximately 250,000 bpd in 2016 and 2017.

“With the current situation, exploration is very expensive, so right now we have to wait on that. But Gabon’s oil future is still good. We have great hopes about what we can find in the future, both oil and gas,” Bongo told Bloomberg.

Anita Fatunji