OPEC

[insp89]

Does anyone out there know if IRAQ is still a member of OPEC ?

I believe that before the war, they were a member.

Seems to me that IRAQ would have a lot to say about the price of a barrel of OIL..

 

[LD3]

Does anyone out there know if IRAQ is still a member of OPEC ?

I believe that before the war, they were a member.

Seems to me that IRAQ would have a lot to say about the price of a barrel of OIL..

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/opec.html

 

[FWAAA]

Does anyone out there know if IRAQ is still a member of OPEC ?

I believe that before the war, they were a member.

Seems to me that IRAQ would have a lot to say about the price of a barrel of OIL..

About the bolded portion: Sure, cartels can influence the price of a commodity for a while, but eventually, members of the cartel stab each other in the back and cheat on their "quotas." Oil has been expensive and it has been cheap (remember $0.55/gal jetA in 1998-99?) - believing that OPEC successfully "controls" the price of a barrel of oil is sheer fantasy.

Besides - IRAQ is pumping less oil since we took out Saddam Hussein than it did during the period of sanctions when it wasn't allowed to freely pump all it wanted (1990-2003).

Like it or not - the price of oil is set by what people are willing to pay on any given day - and for a couple years now, that number has been huge (compared to the last 20 years or so).

 

[insp89]

http://www.eia.doe.gov/cabs/opec.html

'LD3', Thanks..Good Information..Answered a lot of my questions.

 

[insp89]

About the bolded portion: Sure, cartels can influence the price of a commodity for a while, but eventually, members of the cartel stab each other in the back and cheat on their "quotas." Oil has been expensive and it has been cheap (remember $0.55/gal jetA in 1998-99?) - believing that OPEC successfully "controls" the price of a barrel of oil is sheer fantasy.

Besides - IRAQ is pumping less oil since we took out Saddam Hussein than it did during the period of sanctions when it wasn't allowed to freely pump all it wanted (1990-2003).

Like it or not - the price of oil is set by what people are willing to pay on any given day - and for a couple years now, that number has been huge (compared to the last 20 years or so).

'FWAAA' I will not pretend to know very much about all the inner-workings of BIG OIL, OPEC and Globalism, But I can't help but think there is more to the price of OIL than what people are willing to pay for it.