09/16/10 By: Akhya Gupta

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
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.
 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)
OPERATIONS
OPEC's member countries hold about two-thirds 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
~ This chart demonstrates how
OPEC's share of world oil
production has effectively
fallen since the late 1980s, as
world demand as risen.
Figures are in millions of
barrels a day

~ The world demand for

millions of barrels of crude oil
has gone up about 10 million
during this 12 yr span while
the amount supplied by OPEC
only went up 4 to 5 million

~ This graph is evidence of

the declining dominance of
OPEC in oil supply due to the
emergence of Non-OPEC
suppliers such as Canada and
Russia
Conclusion
 OPEC still has considerable influence in determining the price per barrel of petroleum
by setting quotas, but their best days are behind them

 Non-OPEC nations such as Canada and Mexico have stripped the cartel of its power to
single-handedly manipulate the petroleum market

 The U.S. has benefited from the increased production of petroleum by Non-OPEC
nations and thus reduced their annual imports from the OPEC countries in recent years

 The United States needs to address its unacceptable energy policy by stressing efficiency
and reduced demand for fossil fuels
THANK YOU