Organization Of Petroleum Exporting Countries - OPEC

Nobody likes flexing their pecs more than OPEC.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, better known as OPEC, knows its strength: it’s got 14 oil-heavy nation members, who have over 80% of proven oil reserves. These oil-producing countries collude together through OPEC to keep oil markets stable, doing things like artificially restricting supply.

Think Narcos, but oil instead of drugs. Yep, OPEC is a cartel, which means it’s a group that controls the price of something (oil, in this case) by colluding together. The word “cartel” has a bad-boy connotation to it, since the U.S. doesn’t like cartels operating within its borders. You can tell by the antitrust laws, which say that there's no price fixing allowed, no artificially restricting supply allowed...things that monopolies and oligopolies might be tempted to do to increase their profits.

Who’s who in OPEC? Current members include Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, the Republic of the Congo, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. Saudi Arabia is the head honcho...cartel bossman. Indonesia left OPEC since it was importing more oil than it was exporting, and Qatar left for the greener pastures of natural gas.

While their stated goal of a stable oil market worldwide is noble, OPEC has had a rocky history. They declared an oil embargo against the U.S. and other pro-Israel countries in the 1970s, using OPEC oil as political leverage. Some OPEC members were taken hostage in the mid-1970s, OPEC members came and went, as well as oil crises and gluts. Political bickering and attempts to move away from oil and toward other energy sources have all contributed to the unstable oil market in recent decades.