Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries

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The Question:

What does OPEC stand for and who belongs to it today?

The Answer:

OPEC is the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and it was founded at a meeting on September 14, 1960 in Baghdad, Iraq by five founding members: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Since then Qatar (1961), Indonesia (1962), Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya (1962), United Arab Emirates (1967), Algeria (1969) and Nigeria (1971) have joined the organization.

To learn more about these member nations go to our Countries of the World page.

—The Editors

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