Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
History and Functions
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries(OPEC) is a permanent, intergovernmental organization, created at the Baghdad Conference on September 10_14, 1960, by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. The five founding members were later joined by eight other members: Qatar (1961), Indonesia (1962), Socialist Peoples’ Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1962), United Arab Emirates (1967), Algeria (1969), Nigeria (1971), Ecuador (1973_1992), and Gabon (1975_1994). OPEC had its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, in the first five years of its existence. This was moved to Vienna, Austria, on September 1, 1965. OPEC’s objective is to coordinate and unify petroleum policies among member countries…
