On 14 September 1960, exactly 61 years ago, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, better known as OPEC. At the beginning, five countries were part of it (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela), who came together in a cartel to negotiate aspects related to oil production, prices and concessions with the oil companies. In fact, it was a move to emancipate themselves from the excessive power of the "seven sisters" (copyright by Enrico Mattei), i.e. the major oil multinationals, almost all Anglo-American.
Today OPEC members are 14: the founding members have been joined over the years by Libya, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador, Gabon, Angola, Equatorial Guinea and the Republic of the Congo. Together, the countries of the Organization control 79% of the world's oil reserves and 35% of those of natural gas. However, the countries of the Persian Gulf area have always held the greatest political influence within OPEC, with Saudi Arabia playing the key role.
OPEC's main purpose is to control the trend in the price of oil coordinating the production levels of the member countries through a quota system.
A fundamental turning point in the Organization's recent history dates back to November 30, 2016, when OPEC cut production by 1,2 million barrels per day to raise quotations, which at the beginning of that year had fallen below 30 dollars per barrel. That decision marks the birth of the so-called Opec +, because for the first time other countries outside the cartel are joining the cuts, first and foremost Russia.
This is an epochal change, also due to the fact that over time the power of OPEC has decreased due to the increase in production by countries not adhering to the cartel (USA and Russia above all, but also China , Brazil, Mexico and Azerbaijan).
Last week, the OPEC+ countries ratified the plan that it foresees for October a gradual increase month of oil production (+400 barrels per day).
waiting for the funeral, we suffer. Holidays don't last forever