This Day in History: 1960-09-14

OPEC is formed on this day in 1960. The Organization of Oil Producing Countries originally includes Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, and today has an additional eight members. OPEC’s  raison d’etre is to restrain supply and increase profits in order to compete with the “Seven Sisters” international oil companies.  OPEC became a major international political power with the oil embargoes of 1973 and 1979. When oil consumers then turned to renewable energy, OPEC recklessly engineered a world oil glut in the 1980s. By the 2010s, it became clear that world oil reserve estimates were political rather than geological.  World oil consumption is declining rapidly with concerns about climate change, with coronavirus risks, with improved telecommunications and with the accelerating efficiencies of renewable energy sources.