A powerful oil cartel controls the price you pay at the petrol pump, but its influence could wane

Recently when I stood at the petrol pump watching the price to fill my tank with unleaded petrol soar above $80, I wondered how much the men who operate the world’s oil cartel understand the impact they are having on people’s lives. That “cartel”, as some describe it, is OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries). It was first formed in 1960 in Baghdad, Iraq, as a challenge to Western dominance. Five countries — Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela — restructured the global system of oil production in favour of oil-producing states and away from an oligopoly of…