Is it fair to blame OPEC for the high price of oil?
To a degree. After all, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries—a 13-nation body dominated by Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other Middle Eastern countries—was created with the express purpose of influencing prices. In the 1970s, it did in fact hold the world ransom by restricting supply. (See below.) The U.S. and other oil-consuming nations maintain that the cartel is once again driving up prices by limiting production, even though OPEC now controls only 40 percent of the world oil market, down from 70 percent in 1973. The U.S. House of Representatives has even called for the Justice Department to pursue antitrust and price-fixing charges against OPEC. What does OPEC say in its defense? OPEC members claim that most of them couldn’t supply more oil even if they wanted to, because they are already pumping at or near capacity. Only Saudi Arabia has substantial surplus capacity; yet when the Saudis, at President Bush’s behest, agreed recently to produce 300,000 extra barrels a day, g
