OPEC turns 57 years old this year. I suppose I could wait three more years for a “round” number to tell you about it, but as they say, there’s no time like the present. So put a candle to the oil lamp, son, sit back, and listen up as I tell you the history of OPEC — what it is, how it came to be, and how an oil embargo made OPEC famous.
Or infamous, as the case may be.
An even shorter map of the OPEC countries. Image source: Getty Images.