OPEC was established in September 1960 with five members – Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Kuwait, Iraq and Iran; it now has 12 members. Although triggered by a price reduction imposed on oil producers by the major international oil companies – the Seven Sisters – at the time, OPEC’s emergence was not seen as a particularly important development. Thirteen years later, however, with Arab members of OPEC imposing an oil embargo on the US and Europe in response to their support for Israel in the Yom Kippur war of 1973, the potential power of the oil exporters became very evident.
Read Full Article »
