1. Victorian Furtney Emily Field Haille Monteiro

2. Purpose  Coordinates and unifies the petroleum policies of its Member Countries and ensures the stabilization of oil markets in order to secure an efficient distribution of oil  Regulates the supply of oil to consumers  A steady income to producers and a fair return on capital for those investing in the petroleum industry

3. Participants  Algeria  Angola  Ecuador  Iran  Iraq  Kuwait  Libya  Nigeria  Qatar  Saudi Arabia  United Arab Emirates  Venezuela

4. Why/How was it formed?  Was created at the Baghdad Conference on September 1960, by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela  Where later joined by nine other members Qatar (1961); Indonesia (1962) Libya (1962) United Arab Emirates (1967) Algeria (1969) Nigeria (1971) Ecuador (1973)  Objective to coordinate oil everywhere in the world  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=67xnH4x jZyQ

5. Current Issues  Consumers are starting to use alternative ways to produce energy that are cheaper and environmentally friendly  OPEC member will start to loose money

6. Canada's Involvement  Canada is not involved in OPEC because Canada has their own guidelines for production of oil and do not want to be dictated by small, less oil rich countries

7.  For further information please visit http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/ http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/