What is OPEC among interstate organizations?

In 1960, in order to coordinate the actions of the states involved in the export of hydrocarbons, an appropriate organization was established. What is OPEC? This is a number of countries, which, according to various expert estimates, account for about half of all the explored hydrocarbon reserves. Its establishment occurred after a one-sided decline in procurement prices for extracted resources from the "oil cartel", also called the "7 sisters", which united world companies of the United States, Britain and Germany, to confront it and prevent the decline of its revenues.

The spread of influence is gradual, but now any politician or the head of an enterprise connected with oil processing and using the products of its processing must feel the activity of this organization in the life of any country. OPEC enlarges the list of its participants constantly, involving in the process all the more or less significant states. In addition, contradictions of 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 participants covers almost the entire globe, and knowing what OPEC is, will not be superfluous. Some states are prospering, others, on the contrary, are in stagnation, due to a high level of corruption, a large external debt, increased military expenditures and a number of other reasons. One can look at what countries are included in OPEC, and consider the dynamics of development:

- 1960s: unification of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. Later, they joined Qatar, Indonesia, Libya, the United Arab Emirates and Algeria.

- 1970s: the composition increased at the expense of Nigeria, Ecuador and Gabon.

- 1990's: from the organization there was an exit of Gabon, participation of Ecuador was suspended. In 1998 the Russian Federation was granted observer status.

- 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 activities of the organization as a permanent observer.

The decline in the consumption of hydrocarbon energy resources that occurred in the 1980s led to a sharp decline in the incomes of the member countries of the organization, however, despite everything, it continued to strengthen its positions. In spite of everything, such OPEC suits, and although Britain, Mexico, Norway and Oman can not be drawn into its orbit, there is a share of influence on their oilfields.

In the current century, the ongoing crisis 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 due to the artificial reduction in the amount of extracted resources.

What is OPEC today? This is a powerful intergovernmental association, on whose decisions the state of the world economy depends. It has an official registration with the UN and relations with the boards on economics and social issues. At least twice a year, at the level of the energy ministers of the participating countries, meetings are held to assess the global hydrocarbon market and forecast its development.