1. Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries

2. Membership OPEC stands for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. It is an intergovernmental organisation that has been around for 48 years, it was created by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. After a while, the existing members were joined by another 9. These were Qatar, Indonesia, Socialist Peoples Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador, Angola and Gabon.

3. Organisation

4. Roles OPEC’s principal aims are the coordination and unification of the petroleum policies of Member Countries and the determination of the best means for safeguarding their interest, individually and collectively. The Organization ensures the stabilization of prices in international oil markets. They try and make sure the producing countries are gaining a steady income and that there is 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.

5. Responsibilities The OPEC Long-Term Strategy recognises the important role of oil in meeting future global energy demand and for the socio-economic development of OPEC Member Countries, and provides a vision and framework for the Organization’s future. The objectives for the Strategy relate to the long- term petroleum revenues of Member Countries, the stability of the world oil market with fair prices, and the security of regular supply to consumers, as well as the security of world oil demand.

6. Activities & Policies OPEC's objective is to co-ordinate and unify petroleum policies among Member Countries, in order to secure fair and stable prices for petroleum producers; an efficient, economic and regular supply of petroleum to consuming nations; and a fair return on capital to those investing in the industry.

7. Area of Operation OPEC had its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, in the first five years of its existence. However, this was moved to Vienna, Austria, on September 1, 1965.

8. Coverage In The Media The media have been ignoring OPEC’s control of oil market when covering America’s pain at the pump. Since January 2007, the network news has run 43 stories on oil companies’ profits and just three stories on OPEC profits. Network reporters have referred to oil companies as “a bunch of thieves … ripping people off” and asked them to “cut back a bit on your profit.” But they have overlooked the openly anti-American hostility of some OPEC nations and have downplayed the cartel’s control of world prices.

9. Positive/Negative Comments OPEC's influence on the market has been negatively criticized. Several members of OPEC alarmed the world and triggered high inflation across both the developing and developed world when they used oil embargoes (preventing the division of trade within certain countries) in the 1973 oil crisis, which isolated certain countries and put its government into a difficult internal situation

10. More Facts Opec daily basket price stood at $129.77 dollars a barrel on Thursday 12 th June 2008. Recently, Indonesia has decided to quit the organization, though it will remain a member until the end of 2008. OPEC nations account for two-thirds of the world's oil reserves