Important for IAS~IFoS Prelims Exam 2022, CDS Exam and AC(CAPF) Exam
OPEC
✏ Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is an intergovernmental organization of 13 countries.
✏ Founded on 14 September 1960 in Baghdad by the first five members (Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela)
✏ 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 objectives are:- ✍ 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; ✍ A fair return on capital to those investing in the industry.
✍ It adopted a ‘Declaratory Statement of Petroleum Policy in Member Countries’ in 1968, which emphasised the inalienable right of all countries to exercise permanent sovereignty over their natural resources in the interest of their national development. Membership grew to ten by 1969.
✏ OPEC establishment Fund for International Development in 1976.
✏ Member Countries embarked on ambitious socio-economic development schemes.
✏ OPEC Membership grew to 13 by 1975.
✏ After the Earth Summit of 1992, OPEC sought fairness, balance and realism in the treatment of oil supply.
✏ OPEC’s second and third summits in Caracas and Riyadh in 2000 and 2007 established stable energy markets, sustainable development and the environment as three guiding themes.
✏ OPEC continued to attend the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) meetings to dialogue and exchange views.
✏ The current OPEC members are the following: Algeria, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.
✏ A larger group called OPEC+ was formed in late 2016 to have more control on the global crude oil market
What is OPEC+?
✏ OPEC+ is a group of 24 oil-producing nations, made up of the 14 members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), and 10 other non-OPEC members, including Russia.
✏ The OPEC bloc is nominally led by Saudi Arabia, the group’s largest oil producer, while Russia is the biggest player among the non-OPEC countries.
✏ This concept rises in 2017 with a deal to coordinate oil production among the countries in a bid to stabilize prices.
