QUITO, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- Ecuador will rejoin the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) at the cartel's next meeting in November, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said Saturday.

    "Ecuador is going to be taking a great step next month" to return to OPEC, Correa said in his weekly radio program.

    Ecuador, which produces 530,000 barrels of oil per day, is the fifth largest producer in South America.

    The Andean country left OPEC in 1992. Its then Energy Minister Andres Barreiro Vivas said Ecuador was forced to leave the group because of the annual membership fee of 2 million U.S. dollars and the cartel's refusal to raise Ecuador's production quota.

    Hugo Chavez, president of Venezuela, the only Latin American member of OPEC, has backed Ecuador's bid to rejoin the group. The two countries have moved to increase energy cooperation.

    After Correa was elected in November, 2006, he said his country would apply to rejoin OPEC.