1960

OPEC

Five oil-exporting states found OPEC at the Baghdad Conference

Qatar was in the room and left an observer, not a founder. The five who did sign crossed the usual regional line: four Middle Eastern exporters and Venezuela.

Al-Shaab Hall, 10–14 September 1960

Representatives of Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela met at Al-Shaab Hall in Baghdad's Bab Al-Muaatham district from 10 to 14 September 1960, and closed the conference by creating a permanent body called the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The meeting was called in a hurry. Major international oil companies had unilaterally cut Middle Eastern posted crude prices in August, and because government revenue was calculated from posted prices, the cut fell straight onto the exporters' budgets.

Fuad Rouhani signed for Iran, Tala'at al-Shaibani for the host Iraq, Ahmed Sayed Omar for Kuwait, Abdullah Al-Tariki for Saudi Arabia and Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo for Venezuela.

What the five actually agreed

They committed to coordinate and unify petroleum policies, safeguard their individual and collective interests, and seek stable posted prices — specifically restoration of the pre-August level, with consultation required before future changes.

The resolution carried a solidarity rule: members were to resist retaliation against any one of them implementing a unanimous decision, rather than profit by taking that member's business.

The agreement concluded on 14 September entered into force 17 days later, on 1 October 1960.

Not yet a shift in power

What existed at the end of the week was an organization and a common negotiating position, not control of the world oil market. Historical accounts describe much of OPEC's first decade as information-sharing and institution-building.

The 1973 Arab oil embargo is a separate matter thirteen years later, run through OAPEC, the Arab petroleum exporters' organization.

Membership has changed repeatedly since; OPEC's own site listed 12 member countries in 2026.

Sources

Researched 24 Aug 2026 7 sources not yet audited Date corrected

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet and rewritten from that sheet. This article has not yet had an independent model audit. How the pipeline works →

Date corrected. The research places this at 1960-09-14.