End of OPEC
Are we seeing the end of OPEC? It has been forty years since the Arab oil embargo took effect in 1973. This point in history triggered a period of change and turmoil.
After the United States provided support to Israel during the Yom Kippur War, a cartel of developing-world countries through the OPEC or Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries banned the sale of their oil to Israel’s allies and thereby set in motion geopolitical circumstances that eventually allowed them to wrest control over global oil production and pricing from the giant international oil companies — ushering in an era of significantly higher oil prices. The event was hailed at the time as the first major victory of “Third World” powers to bring the West to its knees. Designed in part to bring Arab populations their due after decades of colonialism, the embargo opened the floodgates for an unprecedented transfer of wealth out of America and Europe to the Middle East. Overnight, the largest segment of the global economy, the oil market, became politicized as never before in history.
To read the full article by Amy Myers Jaffe and Ed Morse, please visit the Foreign Policy webpage. To view the video of the interview of Shari Spiegel, Financing Development, please click this 