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>Cartels are very interesting: historically few are successful long term OPEC has been around for 57 years and seems to be holding together. My uneducated hunc

>Cartels are very interesting: historically few are successful long term OPEC has been around for 57 years and seems to be holding together. My uneducated hunch is that the success of a cartel has to do with how fungible the product is and oil is very near the top of the list.

Kalium 8y ago
You're correct, OPEC has been around for almost six decades and still wields significant power. Yet, is it perhaps possible that it has less than it used to? The days when OPEC could single-handedly crash the economies of much of the Western world are mostly gone. There's too much oil production outside of OPEC nations. American frackers have shown an extraordinary ability to respond quickly to price rises, checking them and OPEC's power both. OPEC is holding together as a group and cartel! But, outside pressure and internal political differences have severely weakened it...
- duxup 8y ago
  OPEC has taken to fighting among themselves as well. Saudi Arabia has noped out of agreements at will (granted other OPEC members may have been cheating and doing the same without saying it), notably once during the crazy sub $1 a gallon period in 1998.
NeedMoreTea 8y ago
OPEC was meant to be a reaction to the Seven Sisters cartel and is much weakened compared to the days of the seventies oil crisis. The majority of world production has been outside of OPEC for years. What they do have is the most reserves.
2038AD 8y ago
It also helps that it's an intergovernmental organisation rather than a private cartel.
civilian 8y ago
I think that legister means that few Cartels, as in a cartel-collaboration-pricing-strategy, are successful in the long term. Yes OPEC exists as an organization, but it's price-fixing & supply-fixing strategies have failed. Especially in the late 80s there were a lot of defectors from the cartel strategy during the oil glut. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPEC#1979%E2%80%931980_oil_crisis_and_1980s_oil_glut https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPEC#1979%E2%80%931980_oil_cri...

Kalium 8y ago

You're correct, OPEC has been around for almost six decades and still wields significant power. Yet, is it perhaps possible that it has less than it used to? The days when OPEC could single-handedly crash the economies of much of the Western world are mostly gone. There's too much oil production outside of OPEC nations. American frackers have shown an extraordinary ability to respond quickly to price rises, checking them and OPEC's power both. OPEC is holding together as a group and cartel! But, outside pressure and internal political differences have severely weakened it...

duxup 8y ago
OPEC has taken to fighting among themselves as well. Saudi Arabia has noped out of agreements at will (granted other OPEC members may have been cheating and doing the same without saying it), notably once during the crazy sub $1 a gallon period in 1998.

NeedMoreTea 8y ago

OPEC was meant to be a reaction to the Seven Sisters cartel and is much weakened compared to the days of the seventies oil crisis. The majority of world production has been outside of OPEC for years. What they do have is the most reserves.

2038AD 8y ago

It also helps that it's an intergovernmental organisation rather than a private cartel.

civilian 8y ago

I think that legister means that few Cartels, as in a cartel-collaboration-pricing-strategy, are successful in the long term. Yes OPEC exists as an organization, but it's price-fixing & supply-fixing strategies have failed. Especially in the late 80s there were a lot of defectors from the cartel strategy during the oil glut. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPEC#1979%E2%80%931980_oil_crisis_and_1980s_oil_glut https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPEC#1979%E2%80%931980_oil_cri...