The organization is also a significant provider of information about the international oil market. The current OPEC members are: Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, homeland, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, the Republic of the Congo, Saudi Arabia (the de facto leader), United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela.
Before OPEC’s formation, the global oil industry was dominated by a few large Western companies, often called the “Seven Sisters,” which controlled production, pricing, and exports. This left oil-producing countries with little influence over their own resources. By the late 1950s, countries like Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela sought to change this imbalance.
