admin Organization of petroleum exporting countries ( OPEC) was established at a conference held in Baghdad between September 10th to 14th, 1960 and thereafter was formally constituted in January 1961 by five pioneering member countries,namely, Saudi Arabia,Iran,Iraq,Kuwait and Venezuela. The term, organization of petroleum exporting countries ( OPEC) refers to a group of 13 of the world’s major oil exporting nations.
The main objective of the establishment is to coordinate the petroleum policies of it’s members and to provide member states with technical and economic aid.The almost 64 years old OPEC, is a cartel that aims to manage the supply of oil in an effort to set the price of oil in the world market in order to avoid fluctuations that might affect the economies of both producing and purchasing countries.
Apart from the five founding members of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, other member states of OPEC are, Algeria, Angola, Congo,Equatorial Guinea,Gabon, Libya, Nigeria and United Arab Emirates.
Headquartered in Vienna Austria, OPEC describes itself as a permanent intergovernmental organization due to it’s weighty ability to control the oil world market.In 1969, the organization expanded it’s membership to 10 countries until Arab member countries cut production and banned exports to the United States of America and the Netherlands. This embargo was a direct response to the West support for Israel during the Yom Kippur war in October 1973.
A year later, oil prices shot up causing shortages in the United states.In 1976, OPEC established the OPEC fund for international Development. Member countries work with developing nations and the international community to provide private, and Trade sector financing and grants to non member countries.
According to the statutes which established OPEC, membership is open to any oil producing nation that is a substantial exporter of oil and shares the ideals of the organization.
As at 2019, eleven other countries which joined OPEC apart from the five pioneering members are:
1: QUATAR: 1961
2: INDONESIA: 1962.
3: LIBYA: 1962
4: UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: 1967
5: ALGERIA: 1969
6: NIGERIA:1971
7: EQUADOR: 1973.
8: GABON: 1975
9:ANGOLA: 2007
10: EQUATORIAL GUINEA: 2017
11: CONGO : 2018
Strong as the organization is with all it’s global impact and influence in the world oil market, it was hit by a gale of membership withdrawals that signaled a Crack in the wall of the highly influential body .By November 30th 2016, Indonesia suspended her membership of the organization. Quatar followed suit in January 2019 by terminating her membership of the organization while 1st of January 2020 saw Ecuador finally withdrew her membership status from the group.
Collectively,OPEC , is the largest producer and exporter of Crude Oil and petroleum products in the world with 40% of the world’s oil production and 60 % of the world’s petroleum market coming from the group’s member countries and this accounted for more than 80% of the World’s proven oil reserves in 2021. OPEC has such a strong hold on the market forces, such that makes it possible to determine the rise and fall of prices of oil at the global stage.
