Facts about Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)

The OPEC is an intergovernmental organization of 14 oil-exporting developing nations that coordinates and unifies the petroleum policies of its member countries.

Established: 1960 in Baghdad, Iraq by the first five members.

Headquarters: Vienna, Austria.

OPEC Members: Algeria, Angola, Libya, Nigeria and Gabon (from Africa); Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia (the de facto leader) Kuwait, Qatar, United Arab Emirates (from Asia); Ecuador and Venezuela (from Latin America).

As of 2015, these 14 OPEC member countries accounted for an estimated 43% of global oil production and 73% of the world’s oil reserves.

Two-thirds of OPEC’s oil production and reserves are in its six Middle Eastern (west Asian) countries that surround the oil-rich Persian Gulf.