Word: opec
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...recent windfall has, for example, given Iran - OPEC's second-biggest oil producer - a cushion to neutralize the impact of Western sanctions over its nuclear program, and to ameliorate the effect of a struggling economy. But because Iran imports crucial refined diesel to keep its cars and factories running, it needs to sell its crude oil for $60 a barrel or more, according to oil analysts. So, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has plenty of incentive to push his OPEC colleagues to vote for production cuts: If falling prices force his government to cut its heavy gasoline subsidies, he won't help...
...many consumers, the only silver lining on the global financial crisis has been the falling oil price it has precipitated. But OPEC is determined to put an end to the relief at the gas pump. Concerned to protect their countries' financial health, oil ministers from the 13 members of the cartel of oil-producing countries meet in Vienna on Friday with only one item on their agenda - cutting their oil output in order to drive up world prices. Oil prices have been slashed by more than half in just three months, from $147 a barrel in July...
...Never much loved outside of its member states, OPEC is a convenient whipping boy for leaders responding to consumer pain, but oil analysts say it may not deserve all the blame. Its members have certainly earned mammoth windfalls from rocketing oil prices over the past year, but some face the prospect of domestic political upheaval if oil prices fall...
...Even more than the lower prices, OPEC leaders have been jolted by the lightning speed with which they have tumbled. But their influence over prices is more limited than many in Western countries believe, or OPEC members would like: OPEC members, in fact, produces only one-third of the world's oil; the rest comes from Canada, Russia, Mexico, and several smaller countries. The cartel sets production quotas for each member, but those are routinely violated by bigger players, like Saudi Arabia, whose well usually have spare capacity. "We saw that when prices went up to $145 a barrel OPEC...
...reason for this is flatly ignored. The sharp increase in crude-oil prices shortly before the financial crises sucked cash directly from the pockets of the consumers, which then forced them to default on their bond payments. Strong action is taken against cartels in business worldwide, but not against OPEC. It seems to be untouchable. The OPEC members are probably using all the cash sucked from the consumers to buy up stocks of companies in the industrialized world at half price. Unless the stranglehold of OPEC on the world's oil supply is broken, the world will remain...