Now the second Latin American OPEC member, Ecuador (which quit the cartel back in 1992) rejoined the group hoping that its membership would give it access to technical information and expertise from other member countries. Ecuador’s president, Rafael Correa, has strongly criticized former president Sixto Duran-Ballen’s decision to leave OPEC over membership fees and production quota disputes. Correa hopes OPEC membership will help him expand his oil industry, and in turn develop the country’s unstable economy.

Correa will need all the help he can get, as his policy of hiking windfall taxes to 99 percent has put a damper on private investment in the country. Although the impact of Correa’s new policy has yet to be seen, there’s already talk that major investors like Repsol YPF might cut their losses and pull out of Ecuador.

Ecuador’s support will bring comfort and some clout to Venezuela, which has become an increasingly vocal member of OPEC under Chávez. Venezuela frequently opposes measures to increase production, and teamed up with ally Iran in the latest summit to call for OPEC to price oil in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. Most OPEC member countries opposed the move, which is not likely to become reality anytime soon. But Chávez now has just a little more support for his proposals.