ABSTRACT

The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2020, is one of the most recognizable acronyms in international politics. The organization has undergone decades of changing importance, from political irrelevance to the spotlight of world attention and back; and from economic boom for its members to deep political and financial crisis.

This handbook, with chapters provided by scholars and analysts from different backgrounds and specializations, discusses and analyzes the history and development of OPEC, its global importance, and the role it has played, and still plays, in the global energy market. Part I focuses on the relationship between OPEC and its member states. Part II examines the relationship between OPEC and its customers, the consuming countries and their governments, while Part III addresses the relationship between OPEC and its competitors and potential partners, the non-OPEC producers, and the international oil companies. The final section, Part IV, looks at OPEC and the governance of international energy.

Chapter 20 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at https://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license. 

chapter 1|12 pages

OPEC and the global energy order

Past, present and future challenges

part I|74 pages

OPEC and the member countries

chapter 2|17 pages

Oilmen, Petroleum Arabism and OPEC

New political and public cultures of oil in the Arab world, 1959–1964

chapter 3|15 pages

Saudi Arabia’s role in OPEC’s evolution

OPEC and the global energy order from its origins to the present time

chapter 4|11 pages

Trade not aid

OPEC and its contribution towards restructuring the Iranian economy in the 1960s

chapter 5|7 pages

Algeria and OPEC

chapter 6|14 pages

From norm entrepreneur to reluctant overachiever

Venezuela in the history of OPEC

part II|66 pages

OPEC and consuming countries

chapter 8|12 pages

Be prepared!

Emergency stockpiles of oil among Western consumer countries prior to the International Energy Agency system

chapter 9|11 pages

Talking about OPEC without talking to OPEC?

The (non-)relationship between the International Energy Agency and OPEC 1974–1990

chapter 10|10 pages

How OPEC made the G7

Western coordination in the wake of the ‘oil shock’

chapter 11|12 pages

The US response to OPEC

chapter 12|8 pages

China and OPEC

From ideological support to economic cooperation

chapter 13|12 pages

The European communities and OPEC

From entangled international organizations to liberalism (1960s–1980s)

part III|99 pages

OPEC, non-OPEC and the international oil companies

chapter 14|17 pages

The changing relationship between OPEC countries and international oil companies

The dynamics of bargaining power in an evolving market

chapter 15|12 pages

Ignoring, countering and undercutting OPEC

Britain, BP, Shell and the shifting global energy order (1960–1986)

chapter 16|14 pages

Consumer countries, producer countries, and the oil industry

Italy’s role in the evolution of oil contracts (1955–1975)

chapter 17|14 pages

Between the superpower and Third Worldism

Mexico and OPEC (1974–1982)

chapter 18|14 pages

From foes to friends

The relationship between OPEC and Norway 1

chapter 19|16 pages

Taking a leaf out of OPEC’s book?

The significance of developing producer country models for state involvement in North Sea oil production

chapter 20|11 pages

OPEC and Russia

A happy pro forma marriage

part IV|99 pages

OPEC and international energy governance

chapter 21|13 pages

Beyond the Texas Railroad Commission

Thirty years of American precedent for OPEC

chapter 22|12 pages

The road not taken

Frank Hendryx and the proposal to restructure petroleum concessions in the Middle East Aater the Venezuelan pattern

chapter 23|12 pages

OPEC’s struggle for international recognition (1960–1965)

How a denied seat agreement in Switzerland influenced the early development of OPEC

chapter 24|10 pages

When modern terrorism began

The OPEC hostage taking of 1975

chapter 26|13 pages

OPEC as a political club

chapter 27|13 pages

OPEC– from peak to peak

The history of ‘peak oil’ and its relevance for OPEC