Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC)

Organization created in 1968 by three Arab states — Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Libya — to separate the production and sale of oil from politics following the oil embargo in response to the Six-Day War. There are currently 11 member countries (Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates), which represent more than half of the world's oil reserves.