ORGANIZATION OF PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES: An international organization of more than a dozen nations located primarily in the Middle East, Africa, and Central America that controls a sizeable portion of the world's petroleum reserves. Commonly abbreviation OPEC, this organizations control over oil reserves gives it significant market control, which it has been inclined to exert from time to time. The most noted time was the 1970s. OPEC raised oil prices from a scant $2 to $3 a barrel in the early 1970s to over $30 a barrel by the end of the decade. As an group of independent oil-producing nations seeking to monopolize the market, OPEC represents a textbook example of an cartel.
