OPEC | Cracks in the oil crown

On April 29, the UAE announced it would leave the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), ending nearly six decades of membership. The decision, effective May 1, removes one of the group’s largest producers.

OPEC traces its origins to September 1960, when representatives from Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela gathered in Baghdad. At the time, the global oil industry was controlled largely by a consortium of Western companies known as the Seven Sisters. Producing countries had a limited say over how much oil was extracted, or at what price it was sold and revenues depended on decisions made elsewhere.