The most noted example of a cartel, international or otherwise, is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). OPEC is an international organization of more than a dozen nations, primarily located in the Middle East, but also in Africa and Central America, that controls a sizeable portion of the world's petroleum reserves. This control of reserves gives it a great deal of influence over the petroleum market.

However, other lesser known international cartels exist or have existed recently in the markets for steel, uranium, assorted chemicals, international long distance telephone service, and international air transportation.

International cartels come in three varieties:

• Private Firm Cartel: This form of cartel includes two or more private firms from two or more different countries that seek to control the market for a particular good. This market can be domestic or foreign. A private firm cartel epitomizes secretive explicit collusion among firms. Such cartels are inevitably illegal and are often prosecuted by domestic law enforcement agencies.


• Export Cartel: This type of a cartel includes two or more private firms in a particular county, often an industrial trade group, that seek to control the exports to, and markets in, another country or other countries. These cartels are often exempt from domestic antitrust laws and might even be encouraged by domestic governments.


• Government Cartel: This form of cartel is exemplified by OPEC and includes the governments of two or more countries that seek to control the market for a particular good. These cartels, like most international organizations, often seek multiple economic, political, and social objectives. That is, they might not control the market exclusively for profit and economic gain, but maybe to gain political favor from other countries.