In 1960, in order to coordinate the actions of states involved in the export of hydrocarbon raw materials, an appropriate organization was created.
What is OPEC? This is a number of countries, which, according to various expert estimates, account for about half of all explored hydrocarbon reserves. Its establishment took place after a unilateral reduction in purchase prices for extracted resources by the "oil cartel", also called "7 sisters", which united world companies in the USA, Great Britain and Germany, to counter it and prevent a decrease in their income.
The spread of influence is gradual, but now any politician or head of an enterprise associated with the processing of oil and the use of its products has to feel the activities of this organization in the life of any country. OPEC constantly expands the list of its members, involving in the process all the states of any significance. In addition, contradictions of an economic and political nature sometimes lead to disagreements in the organization, which also affects the pricing of purchased and processed hydrocarbons.
At the moment, the composition of the participants covers almost the entire globe, and it will not be superfluous to know what OPEC is. Some states prosper, others, on the contrary, are in stagnation due to high levels of corruption, large external debt, increased military spending and a number of other reasons. You can look at which countries are in OPEC and consider the dynamics of development:
- 1960s: Unification of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Later, Qatar, Indonesia, Libya, the United Arab Emirates and Algeria joined them.
- 1970s: Composition increased with Nigeria, Ecuador and Gabon.
- 1990s: Gabon left the organization, Ecuador's participation was suspended. The Russian Federation received observer status in 1998.
- 2000s: since 2007, the accession of Angola and since 2009, the temporary suspension of Indonesia's membership, returning to Ecuador. In addition, in 2008, Russian representatives announced their readiness to participate in the activities of the organization as a permanent observer.
The decline in the consumption of hydrocarbon energy in the 1980s led to a sharp decline in the income of the member countries of the organization, but, in spite of everything, it continued to strengthen its position. Despite everything, this suits OPEC, and although Great Britain, Mexico, Norway and Oman cannot be drawn into its orbit, there is some influence on their oil fields.
BIn the current century, the ongoing crisis processes in the economy and the decline in production should have affected the decline in the cost of crude oil, but in fact this is not happening due to the artificial reduction in the amount of extracted resources.
What is OPEC today? This is a powerful intergovernmental association, on the decisions of which the state of the world economy depends. It is officially registered with the UN and has relations with the economic and social councils. At least 2 times a year, meetings are held at the level of energy ministers of the participating countries to assess the global hydrocarbon market and forecast its development.
