OPEC
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is a cartel that was formed in 1960 with an initial membership consisting of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. The background milieu is that the world was in a state of decolonialisation at the time. The world oil market was dominated by seven major oil companies, all from developed nations, while the OPEC nations were all developing nations. The birth of OPEC, therefore, reflected an interest by oil-producing nations to "exercise permanent sovereignty over their natural resources in the interest of their national development" (OPEC, 2012). Several other nations would join OPEC over the coming years, including Qatar, Indonesia, UAE, Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador and Gabon. Angola would also join, much later, while Gabon, Indonesia and Ecuador would later withdraw from the cartel (OPEC, 2012).

The 1970s were a period of growth and maturation for OPEC. The market for oil became much…...

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Works Cited:

OPEC. (2012). Brief history. Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. Retrieved December 4, 2012 from  http://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/24.htm 

US Department of State. (no date). Milestones 1969-1976. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved December 4, 2012 from  http://history.state.gov/milestones/1969-1976/OPEC

So too does the modest recovery of a portion of oil value in the first half of 2009, which saw a more consistent gain in cost due to the shifting impact of the American dollar and the Euro. As a recent report from the Dow Jones Newswires denotes, "Oil gained some ground earlier, propped up by a weaker dollar, after a report showing that consumer confidence was rising in Germany, raising hopes that the worst of the downturn had passed. A weak dollar pushes investors into commodities as a hedge against inflation." (Iacob, 1) As a result, today, the global oil price stands at just a few cents above $69 per barrel. (Bloomberg, 1)
The current condition of war and economy has, likewise, cast a shroud of haziness over the oil market. And the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has done its part to contend with the difficult uncertainty.…...

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Works Cited:

Bloomberg News. (2009). Energy Prices. Bloomberg.com.

Doggett, T. (2009). U.S. oil imports may not rebound after recession: EIA. Reuters. Online at  http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersComService_3_MOLT/idUSTRE55N59N20090624 

Energy Information Administration (EIA). (2007). Country Energy Profiles. U.S. Department of Energy (U.S.DoE, 1). Online at http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/country/index.cfm

Iacob, M. (2009). Crude Slides as Equities Turn Negative. Dow Jones Newswires. Online at  http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20090623-709073.html

S. Or European nations.
Other Players' Support

It must also be made clear that the other oil interests are supportive of the goals of OPEC to increase the price of oil, as they then can demand the same or close to the same prices, based upon market contracts and also make more profit. This is another reason why OPEC has been so successful in its bid to monopolize the market, it is supported almost fully by all industry comparables in action. (Falola & Genova, 2005, p. 23) The buyer and consumer are the only apposing characters in the game, yet this is true unconditionally in business, when cost is inflated or manipulated to increase profit buyers and therefore consumers pay more for a product that costs roughly the same amount to produce and therefore the consumer and buyer feel cheated. (Harford, 2006, p. 88)

Conclusion

No matter how much the consumer complains about manipulation…...

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References

Oil Industry. (2007). In The Columbia Encyclopedia (6th ed.). New York: Columbia University Press.

Falola, T., & Genova, A. (2005). The Politics of the Global Oil Industry: An Introduction. Westport, CT: Praeger.

Harford, T. (2006). The Undercover Economist: Exposing Why the Rich Are Rich, the Poor Are Poor -- And Why You Can Never Buy a Decent Used Car!. New York: Oxford University Press.

Kaplan, P. (1998, June 30). OPEC to Pump Less Oil to Raise Prices. The Washington Times, p. 8.

Petoleum Expoting Counties (OPEC). Specifically it will discuss how the United States deals with OPEC and oil pices, and how the United States has failed to ceate a viable enegy policy that will allow the county not to depend on OPEC's contol of the oil maket. OPEC is a goup of counties that expot oil aound the wold that have banded togethe to contol the supply and pice of oil. The United States heavily depends on oil fom the OPEC nations, which is one eason that the county's oil pices have isen so damatically in the past yea o so. OPEC contols the wold when it comes to oil, and the United States has not leaned how to deal with OPEC effectively, and so Ameicans ae paying the pice at the pumps.
OPEC was fomed in 1960 by the oil-poducing counties pimaily in the Middle East as a eaction to…...

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references are quite dated, however, and overall, this was the least helpful book used in the research.

Rueda, Andres. "Price-Fixing at the Pump. Is the OPEC Oil Conspiracy beyond the Reach of the Sherman Act?." Houston Journal of International Law 24.1 (2001): 1+.

A very helpful resource that covers both the OPEC organization and how it works, along with a detailed look at the laws and statutes that govern the U.S. anti-trust laws, and why they do not apply to foreign cartels such as OPEC. Contains several different comparisons of energy usage in America and around the world, along with several specific legal cases that have led up to the current policy of not hearing lawsuits about foreign entities in U.S. courts.

Sterzinger, George. "OPEC and U.S. Energy." Harvard International Review 25.4 (2004): 5.

This resource discusses OPEC from a recent point-of-view, especially rising oil prices and world problems since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It also contains relevant information on alterative fuels, and how OPEC is positioning itself to corner the alternative fuel market in the future.

productivity of an organization or business entity is determined or influenced by many factors including its public image. This paper focuses on discussing the role and significance of public or corporate image in the success of an organization. The researcher examines the public image problem at the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries in 2015. The discussion includes an analysis of the circumstances that contributed to the public image problem i.e. the numerous legal attacks. The researcher demonstrates how this problem affected the organization's relations with consumers, damaged its reputation, and affected its productivity. The final part of the paper shows how this problem was repaired through the use of social media and long-term initiative to describe tactics as part of public relations effort.
OPEC's Public Image Problem

Public image or corporate image is one of the most important aspects of an organization's success and profitability. Public image basically focuses on…...

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References

Faucon, B. (2015, October 5). OPEC Worried About Its Public Image, Internal Report Says. The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 13, 2016, from  http://www.wsj.com/articles/opec-discusses-improving-its-public-image-internal-report-says-1444077651 

The Moscow Journal. (2015, October 6). In OPEC Reflected on Image. The Moscow Journal. Retrieved February 13, 2016, from http://themoscowjournal.com/in-opec-reflected-on-image/html

Economics of Oil and Gas
The oil industry has found and produced expensive and difficult oil from new provinces at a maximum rate possible. This has left abundant, easy and cheap oil in the hands of IOPEC countries in the Middle East. The latter were forced to a swing role hence making up the difference between the world demand and what can be produced by other countries. This was contrary to the normal economic practice hence concealing gradual impact of growing shortages, depletion as well as the rising cost. The depletion of oil refers to a decline in the production of oil of a well, oil fuel or even a geographical area. The predictions of rates of oil production by Hubbert peak theory are made on the basis of prior rates of discovery as well as the anticipated rates of production. Therefore according to this theory once the peak of production…...

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Reference

Campbell, C. (1998) Peak Oil: A Turning for Mankind. Retrieved April 14, 2014 from http://www.greatchange.org/ov-campbell,peakoil_turning_for_mankind.html

. Campbell J. & Laherrere J., (1998). The end of cheap oil. Retrieved April 14,2014 from  http://dieoff.org/page140.htm 

Jamail D., (2011).The Scourge of 'peak oil.' Retrieved April 14,2014 from  http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2011/07/201172081613634207.html 

Flynn P., (2013). OPEC shudders as shale revolution could spell demise

Individual Project This week submitting Proposal project. This: Introduction case study the integrated project designed tie newly acquired knowledge energy economics analysis major global issues face career.
The project will be a research paper that analyses the future demand of OPEC oil. In the research, the uncertainty range will be analyzed and researched. There is a continuous growth of energy needs globally, while the oil prospects and gas production are declining. This gives a negative outlook as the energy demands will outweigh its production. The limited amount of oil found globally is an issue that is been discussed widely, which makes oil a valuable resource. The organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) controls majority of the world's oil, which is produced by its member states.

There are many uncertainties affecting the supply of oil by OPEC members. Currently instability and tensions affecting some countries have led to disruptions in the supply…...

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References

DERMOT GATELY, N.A.-Y., AND HAMAD M.H. AL-SHEIKH, 2012. The Rapid Growth of OPEC's Domestic Oil Consumption.

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES 2012. World Oil Outlook.

YOUSEF, N.A. 2013. Demand for Oil Products in OPEC Countries: A Panel Cointegration Analysis. International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, 3, 168-177.

Sanctions in the OPEC World
What sorts of sanctions and punishments should an OPEC nation -- whose petroleum production bring riches almost beyond imagination, and hence is a player on the world's economic battleground -- receive if it launches programs aimed at acquiring nuclear weapons? That is the central question for this paper to review and critique. The best example for what would happen to an OPEC nation that works towards building a nuclear weapon can be viewed by examining what has happened to Iran and its fledgling nuclear program. This paper delves into the sanctions against Iran, and reports the political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal consequences of the sanctions that are now being rescinded. This paper also projects what those painful economic and social / political realities would impose on other oil-producing nations planning a nuclear program. This narrative leads to a clear understanding of the question…...

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Bibliography

Aghazadeh, Mahdieh. 'A Historical Overview of Sanctions on Iran and Iran's Nuclear Program. Journal of Academic Studies. Vol. 56, 137-160, 2013.

Berliner, Uri. 'Crippled By Sanctions, Iran's Economy Key In Nuclear Deal." NPR. Recovered November 26, 2015, from   2013.http://www.npr.org .

Byman, Daniel L. 'Iran's Support for Terrorism in the Middle East.' Brookings. Recovered November 25, 2015, from   2013.http://www.brookings.edu .

Farshneshani, Beheshteh. 'In Iran, Sanctions Hurt the Wrong People.' The New York Times. Recovered November 26, 2015, from   2014.http://www.nytimes.com .

This can only be accomplished by first focusing on the entire value chains' unmet needs, and given the monopolistic approaches of De Beers in this industry, channel partners and retailers will have many unmet process needs that once served could turn into a significant competitive advantage. The initial visits to each export market would need to be on a regular basis to build trust with each member of the value chain and also stabilize distribution channels first, and second, looking for innovative and creative ways to make adaptation and customization strategies successful in each market. Only by working to create these unique competitive advantages and most importantly, building trust throughout the entire value chain can a new market entrant be financially viable against cartels like De Beers in the long run.
Question 2 - Operations Management Questions for creating De Beers as a New Brand

Part I Process Map: Using the…...

Collusion, therefore, has the impact of delivering higher prices to consumers than they would otherwise experience. In the long-run, this keeps all firms in the industry in business but in the short-run it is detrimental to consumers, so most forms of collusion are not allowed by regulators. The irony is that regulators are needed to maintain the "free" nature of the market -- to keep prices competitive. This is necessary when barriers to entry are high, as few new firms will enter an oligopolistic industry that is engaging in dangerous price wars.

There are examples of collusion in the world, however. OPEC is probably the biggest one. The cartel sets its output (around 1/3 of global oil output) in order to manage the level of total global output. This has the effect of managing the prices, as long as non-OPEC nations do not change their output levels to counterbalance OPEC's moves.…...

An interesting trend has been registered in the service industry, especially in the field of tourism. One of the main engines of Spanish economy in the past, now tourism in this country faces fierce competition from Eastern Europe countries. The beautiful resorts in Palma del Majorca and Costa rava must compete with low cost sea side resort, which offer similar services at incredibly low prices. Another field which needs reforms and reformulation policy is the agricultural and fishery one, which accounts only 4.1% out of GDP, although the important political forces attached to this sensible sector.

In order to be able to face the challenges and the opportunities on the regional and global market, Spain needs reforms in most fields of activity. Unemployment level is one of the highest in EU 9.2% at the end of 2005, while the rate of inflation was around 3.4 per cent in 2005, which is…...

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Bibliography

1) Carol Matlack and Joan Tarzian - 'Spain: Immigrants Welcome', Business Week, May 21, 2007

2) 'Plain sailing no longer', the Economist print edition, 3rd of March 2007.

3) 'Spanish property - the pain in Spain', 26th of April 2007.

4) Human Development Index report, for the year 2006

he line graph suggested a linear relationship between the price of oil and political events. he increases in the price of oil were linked to negative political events. Negative political events are events that threatened the political stability of regions or of specific countries. When these events occurred there was a tendency for the price of oil to increase along with the conflict or instability. Additionally, there was a decline in the price of oil when there was a fall in the economies of countries. A reduction in the demand for consumer goods would reduce the demand for oil and oil-based products. When there was worldwide negative phenomenon such as a recession, this would also reduce the demand for oil and consequently the price.
he relationship between these variables while not measured in the study was clearly described. Based on the description it would be reasonable to conclude that there…...

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The final element of the study that will be discussed is that of the hypothesis. A hypothesis is a statement of the relationship between the two or more variables. This statement is usually tested statistically to show whether the hypothesis should be accepted or not accepted. There are two hypotheses the null and the alternate. The null hypothesis suggests that there is no relationship between the variables, or no difference between groups. The alternative is the opposite of the null and is generally the hypothesis that the researcher wants to prove or support.

In this study there was an implicit hypothesis suggesting that there would be no significant increase in the production of oil between the years 2009 and 2010. The use of the term significant suggests that any increase must be demonstrably higher than chance. In most research this risk is placed at 5%. The level of significance is the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis if the hypothesis is true. An example of this is the determination that oil production in Nigeria increased significantly. This significant increase means that the events discussed in the article such as the improvements to the pipeline system and the political stability are statistically linked to the increase in oil production.

The article suggested many of the statistical principles as it described the changes in oil price globally. The relationships suggested in the article demand further explication through research. The line graphs clearly showed how the fluctuations in prices are related to external global events and internal political challenges.

Oil & Gas Management
An Analysis of OPEC's Pricing Strategy: Has Saudi Arabia underestimated the resilience of U.S. shale oil?

The global environment for oil and gas has changed significantly in just the last few years as a new set of market conditions have been created that can be defined by an increase supply in oil. These supply increases have largely come from technological developments that have allowed for new forms of oil to extract such as shale oil which has in turn reduced the dependence on the cartels and Middle Eastern oil (Doshi & Corrigan, 2015). There have also been changes in the demand due to technology development as well. Engines and efficiencies have reduced the total demand for oil per user despite the fact that the number of total oil and gas users have increased rapidly in the developing world.

The oil industry serves as the foundation for virtually the whole…...

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References

Agnihotri, G. (2015, October 7). Decoding Saudi Arabia's Strategy In Its Oil Price War. Retrieved from Oil Price:  http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Decoding-Saudi-Arabias-Strategy-In-Its-Oil-Price-War.html 

Carroll, J. (2015, September 18). Shale Bargains. Retrieved from Bloomberg Business:  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-18/exxon-said-to-be-on-the-hunt-for-shale-bargains-in-west-texas 

Doshi, V., & Corrigan, J. (2015). 2015 Oil and Gas Trends. Retrieved from Strategy &:  http://www.strategyand.pwc.com/perspectives/2015-oil-gas-trends 

Egan, M. (2015, November 23). Oil crash sparks OPEC revolt against Saudis. Retrieved from CNN Money:  http://money.cnn.com/2015/11/23/investing/saudi-arabia-opec-revolt-oil-prices/

This invariably means reducing the profit margin for the producers, which economists feel has long-term implications. That is the lack of smooth inflationary shock transmission leads not only to reduction in production output but also contributes to reduction in future investments. Thus, inflationary shocks due to oil price hikes are more long lasting in China. [Tang et.al, 2009]
Sub-Saharan Countries

The impact of Oil price explosion is nowhere as pronounced as in sub-Saharan Africa and in particular the oil importing countries. Among the lower economies those that are oil intense such as the sub-Saharan countries are bound to suffer more -- as much as 3% of their GDP. Oil dependence has not change much with only 6% reduction between 1990 and 2005. This is because these countries have a total dependency on oil as their major source of energy compared with other developing countries in Asia. For instance, India and China…...

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Bibliography

1) Jad Mouawad, 2009, 'Rising Fear of a Future Oil Shock', retrieved Nov 18th 2009, from,  

Geopolitical Energy Competition
One hundred years ago, oil supplies were a non-issue. There was limited demand for oil, and hence limited supply. Today, oil is the most important factor shaping the geopolitical landscape. Global demand for oil is estimated to be 84.6 million barrels per day (OPEC, 2009). OPEC produces 24.845 million barrels per day, and non-OPEC nations produce a further 50.7 million barrels per day for a total production of 75.545 bpd (OPEC, 2008). Many observers believe that the world has already passed "peak oil," that is to say the point at which the majority of the world's oil reserves have been discovered and production maximized (Deffeyes, 2003). Demand in the United States is presently estimated to be 20.7 million barrels per day, some 68% of that going to meet transportation needs (Energy Information Administration, 2007). However, demand from emerging economies such as those in India and China are rapidly…...

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Works Cited

No author. (2009). 152nd Meeting of the OPEC Conference. OPEC. Retrieved April 15, 2009 from  http://www.opec.org/opecna/Press%20Releases/2009/pr042009.htm 

No author. (2008). 151st Meeting of the OPEC Conference. OPEC. Retrieved April 15, 2009 from  http://www.opec.org/opecna/Press%20Releases/2008/pr172008.htm 

Deffeyes, Kenneth S. (2003). Hubbert's Peak. Retrieved April 15, 2009 from  http://books.google.com/books?id=fgDBgqhR_lsC&dq=peak+oil&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=Xp3iQQ8M6m&sig=BuO97Gq_zTX4h4gxnz8pqxOwPeo&hl=en&ei=kHvmSb_8Bc_gtgf7rYieBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#PPA1,M1 

No author. (2007). Energy Information Administration: 2007 Annual Review. Retrieved April 15, 2009 from  http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/aer/pdf/pages/sec5_3.pdf