RIYADH, Nov 17: Ecuador rejoined Opec’s ranks on Saturday after 15 years, adding to the oil producing group’s clout as record prices boost the political and economic influence of its members.

Ecuador became the 13th member of the producer group, which already supplies over a third of the world’s oil, as President Rafael Correa prepared to attend an Opec heads of state summit in Riyadh on Saturday.

With output of around 500,000 barrels per day (bpd), Ecuador is the group’s smallest producer.

“Ecuador is now a member,” Opec Secretary General Abdullah al-Badri told Reuters in Riyadh. “There will be some little formalities in Abu Dhabi.”

OpecP’s next ministerial meeting is in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, on Dec. 5. Ecuador will participate as a full member, the country’s Oil Minister Galo Chiriboga said on Saturday.

“With the presence of our president here at the summit, our membership is symbolically completed,” Chiriboga said.

Correa has made Opec membership a key plank of oil policy since taking office last year and will join his Latin American ally, Venezuela’s leftist President Hugo Chavez, at the Opec table.

BIGGER SHARE: Correa’s move to grab a bigger share of windfall oil revenues from international companies in Ecuador has echoed Chavez’s oil nationalisation drive in Venezuela. Ecuador will add to the number of Opec nations looking for a fatter slice of the price of a barrel of oil.