In 1960, in order to coordinate the actions of states involved in the export of hydrocarbons, 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 occurred after a unilateral reduction in procurement prices for extracted resources from the "oil cartel", also called the "7 Sisters", which united world companies in the USA, Great Britain and Germany, to counter it and prevent a decrease in its income.
The spread of influence is gradual, but now any politician or company leader associated with the processing of oil and the use of its refined products has to feel the activities of this organization in the life of any country. OPEC is constantly expanding the list of its participants, involving all any significant states in the process. 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 are flourishing, while others, on the contrary, are stagnating 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 members of OPEC and consider the dynamics of development:
- 1960s: unification of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Later, they were joined by Qatar, Indonesia, Libya, the United Arab Emirates and Algeria.
- 1970s: composition increased due to 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, the return to Ecuador. In addition, in 2008, Russian representatives announced their readiness to participate in the organization’s activities as a permanent observer.
The decline in the consumption of hydrocarbon energy carriers in the 1980s led to a sharp decrease in the income of the organization’s member countries, however, in spite of everything, it continued to strengthen its position. Despite everything, OPEC is happy with this, and although Britain, Mexico, Norway and Oman cannot be pulled into its orbit, there is some influence on their oil fields.
In the current century, the ongoing crisis processes in the economy and the decline in production were supposed to affect the reduction in the cost of crude oil, but in fact this does not happen due to the artificial reduction in the number of extracted resources.
What is OPEC today? This is a powerful intergovernmental association, on whose decisions the state of the world economy depends. She has official registration with the UN and has relations with 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 predict its development.
