The price of gasoline is a major interest to almost everyone in the country and almost It seems that every month or even more frequently, gas prices are either rising or dropping but never staying stable. Gasoline prices are affected by many factors, including the price of crude oil in the world market, supply and demand for gasoline, local market competition, temporary supply interruptions, government regulations, or taxes. Gasoline is produced by a distillation process where crude oil is heated and fumes are captured and converted into many products such as kerosene, jet fuel, and gasoline to name a few. Therefore the price of crude oil, which is extracted from oil wells beneath the earth’s surface, is a major factor in gas prices. The five leading oil producing countries and their approximate shares of the world supply of oil are: Soviet Union 21%, Saudi Arabia 17%, The United States 15%, Venezuela 4%, and Mexico 4%. These five countries made up 61% of the world’s oil production back in 1980. Even though the United States is a major producer of oil, it does not make them self-sufficient. The United States uses more oil than they can produce and must look toward foreign countries. Therefore, the United States is forced to deal with an organization called OPEC The reason the United States goes through O.P.E.C., is not only in its own interests, but also in the interests of its allies and in the interest of maintaining world peace. OPEC which stands for Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is made up of 13 countries: Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Qatar, Indonesia, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Algeria, Nigeria, Ecuador, and Gabon. It controls approximately four fifths of the worlds oil reserves in the non-Communist world. OPEC was founded in Baghdad, Iraq in September of 1960. The headquarters were initially set in Geneva, but were later moved to Vienna in 1965. OPEC was organized in response to oi...
