My economics lecturer did a memorable talk on OPEC back in the day. His thesis was that groups such as OPEC are ultimately self defeating. I think it was rela

My economics lecturer did a memorable talk on OPEC back in the day. His thesis was that groups such as OPEC are ultimately self defeating. I think it was related to game theory. Basically : OPEC members are made up of states with varying levels of oil reserves. Those with small reserves want to restrict supply to drive the price up, so they can maximise the amount they get for their reserves before they are exhausted. Those with much larger fields (ie, Saudis) do not want to drive the price up too much, because this encourages other extraction methods (ie, Oil Sands, Deepwater Extraction) as well as encouraging uptake of alternative energy sources (ie Electric Car development, natural gas, biofuels). As each OPEC member has differing goals and differing timeframes, eventually OPEC will become a toothless tiger that individual nations openly disobey. I must say in the 10 years since that time, while his eventuality hasn't come about (OPEC is still together) much of it has come true. It certainly isn't the feared group it was 30 years ago.