Abstract
Origin and Aims. Founded in Baghdad in 1960 by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The principal aims are: to unify the petroleum policies of member countries and determine the best means for safeguarding their interests, individually and collectively; to devise ways and means of ensuring the stabilization of prices in international oil markets with a view to eliminating harmful and unnecessary fluctuations; and to secure a steady income for the producing countries, an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consuming nations, and a fair return on their capital to those investing in the petroleum industry. It is estimated that OPEC members possess 75% of the world’s known reserves of crude petroleum, of which about two-thirds are in the Middle East. OPEC countries account for about 43% of world oil production (55% in the mid-1970s).
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Further Reading
Parra, Francisco, Oil Politics: A Modern History of Petroleum. 2010
Skeet, I., OPEC: 25 Years of Prices and Policies. 1988
Yergin, Daniel, The Quest: Energy, Security and the Remaking of the Modern World. 2011
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Turner, B. (2013). Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). In: Turner, B. (eds) The Statesman’s Yearbook. The Statesman’s Yearbook. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-59643-0_107
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-59643-0_107
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