OPEC

2 Pages 466 Words

“OPEC has a brand-new groove”

The following report is on an article out of the October 14, 2002 issue of Fortune. The article is entitled “OPEC has a brand-new groove”.

“The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a group of nations that sells petroleum on the world market”(Carbaugh, 242). In the past OPEC’s meetings were somewhat of a scary affair. According to the article, there have been many strange occurrences at the gatherings. Typically the meetings drag on and on for weeks(Fox, 115). In 1975, the oil ministers were taken hostage by a man named Carlos the Jackel, a Venezuelan terrorist(Fox, 115). In 1980, Iraq took the Iranian oil minister prisoner and a month later the Iranian delegation marched into a meeting holding up a picture of their imprisoned leader(Fox, 115). In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait a week after a heated session that discussed Kuwait’s failure to keep to its oil production quotas(Fox, 115). Now that the stage is set, you will be surprised to here the outcome of the 121st meeting of OPEC. The meeting lasted three short hours and all twelve nations agreed to leave the oil production quotas as is(Fox, 115). Boring, to say the least, compared to the events of the past meetings. Why the drastic change? Suadi Oil Minister, Ali al-Naimi, claims,”OPEC has become a business like organization.”(Fox, 116) President Rilwanu Lukman, form Nigeria, say that the nations all have one common interest. The common interest is nothing other than keeping oil prices high(Fox, 116).

Is the transformation of OPEC a positive thing? Without knowing all there is to know and just reading this article, I think the fact that OPEC gatherings have gone from being dangerous events to being extremely civilized can only be a good thing. The negative thing about it is that oil prices remain high and may even possible increase. I feel that the stability that is forming in the organization is a step in the ri...