The Death of OPEC

The Death of OPEC

Anas Alhajji

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/opec-saudi-arabia-price-war-by-a--f--alhajji-2016-07

Anas Alhajji is an energy economist and the former chief economist at NGP Energy Capital Management

IRVING, TEXAS – The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is dead. Saudi Arabia killed it. Now, OPEC is just a toothless zombie, attracting attention, but without having any impact on the living.

Few have noticed OPEC’s demise for a simple reason: it never really had the impact that it was widely perceived to have. It was never actually a cartel, possessing monopolistic market power. Anyone who thought otherwise was mistakenly attributing to it Saudi Arabia’s market power.https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/opec-saudi-arabia-price-war-by-a--f--alhajji-2016-07