OPEC

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Venezuela and Iran were the first countries to move towards the establishment of OPEC in the 1960 The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was founded in Baghdad, Iraq, in September 1960, to unify and coordinate members' petroleum policies.

 OPEC members' national oil ministers meet regularly to discuss prices and, since 1982, to set crude oil production quotas. Qatar (1961), Indonesia (1962), Libya (1962), the United Arab Emirates (1967), Algeria (1969), and Nigeria (1971). Ecuador and Gabon were early members of OPEC Ecuador withdrew on December 31, 1992 because it was unwilling or unable to pay a $2 million membership fee and felt that it needed to produce more oil than it was allowed to under the OPEC quota

OPEC
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is made up of Algeria, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela Since 1965 its international headquarters are in Vienna, Austria.

What does OPEC do?

OPEC collects price data on a "basket" of crude oils, and uses average prices for these oil streams to develop an OPEC reference price to monitor world oil market conditions. OPEC's reference basket now consists of eleven crude streams representing the main export crudes of all member countries, weighted according to production and exports to the main markets. The crude oil streams in the basket are: Saharan Blend (Algeria), Minas (Indonesia), Iran Heavy (Islamic Republic of Iran), Basra Light (Iraq), Kuwait Export (Kuwait), Es Sider (Libya), Bonny Light (Nigeria), Qatar Marine (Qatar), Arab Light (Saudi Arabia), Murban (UAE) and BCF 17 (Venezuela)

 As of November 2010, OPEC members collectively hold 79% of world crude oil reserves and 44% of the worlds crude oil production In May 2008, Indonesia announced that it would leave OPEC when its membership expired at the end of that year, having become a net importer of oil and being unable to meet its production quota.[14] A statement released by OPEC on 10 September 2008 confirmed Indonesia's withdrawal, noting that it "regretfully accepted the wish of Indonesia to suspend its full Membership in the Organization

OPERATIONS
OPEC's member countries hold about twothirds of the world's oil reserves. They supply 40% of the world's oil production and half of the exports. Thanks to OPEC, member nations receive considerably more for the oil they export.

Other Random Information

Although seven of the thirteen members and former members of OPEC are Arabic nations, the official language of the organization is English. Saudi Arabia has traditionally dominated the organization, owing to its enormous oil reserves

Major Events Relating to Topic

Many things such as hurricane Katrina and the poor economic situation in Nigeria affect OPEC and the oil prices it ultimately controls OPEC is an important part of everyday life every time we go to the pump OPEC is playing a part in our lives Now the US is putting forth some effort to rid ourselves of our oil addiction by means of alternate energy sources