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Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

noun



Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

  1. An organization of about a dozen nations that sell oil to other nations. The purpose of OPEC, a cartel , is to control the production of oil and to establish favorable oil prices for the member nations. Most OPEC countries, such as Libya and Saudi Arabia , are in the Middle East or northern Africa , but Indonesia and Venezuela are members as well.


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Notes

OPEC was formed in the early 1960s but had little impact before 1973. Then, to punish the United States and several Western nations for supporting Israel in a war against Egypt (see also Egypt ) and Syria ( see Arab-Israeli conflict ), the Arab members of OPEC placed an embargo on the sale of oil to the United States and some of its allies. The result was a severe gasoline shortage and a recession in Western nations, especially in Europe , Canada , and the United States. Since then the price of oil has fluctuated, partly because OPEC members have had difficulty agreeing on and policing a common pricing policy.

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