http://www.opec.org/library/
Does OPEC Set Crude Oil Prices?
One of the most common misconceptions about OPEC is that the Organization is responsible for setting crude oil prices. Although OPEC did in fact set crude oil prices from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s, this is no longer the case. It is true that OPEC's Member Countries do voluntary restrain their crude oil production in order to stabilize the oil market and avoid harmful and unnecessary price fluctuations, but this is not the same thing as setting prices.
In today's complex global markets, the price of crude oil is set by movements on the three major international petroleum exchanges, all of which have their own Web sites featuring information about oil prices. They are the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX,
http://www.nymex.com, the International Petroleum Exchange in London (IPE,
http://www.ipe.uk.com and the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX,
http://www.simex.com.sg.
The Web sites of the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA,
http://www.iea.org and the US Energy Information Administration (EIA,
http://www.eia.doe.gov, also have extensive historical information on oil prices.