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The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was primarily established by five oil-exporting nations as a defiant response to the dominance of the global energy giants. These corporations, famously known as the “Seven Sisters,” wielded absolute control over the industry—dictating production levels and setting prices without even consulting the sovereign nations whose resources they were extracting. It was, in essence, another form of economic occupation, persisting even after many of these countries had technically achieved their political independence.
When those five founding members gathered at the Baghdad Conference in September 1960, they sought to do more than just stabilize their revenues; they aimed to reclaim their national sovereignty from a colonial-era pricing structure.
