{"word_count": 112, "character_count": 770}
Oil’s Upward March / A. F. Alhajji. Project Syndicate, 28/06/2011http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/afalhajji8/EnglishWhen OPEC members met in Vienna recently, the Saudis  failed to control the meeting, OPEC’s production ceiling remained  unchanged, and member countries are setting their own output levels. But  talk of an OPEC breakup is premature. After all, it has survived major  wars, numerous diplomatic disputes, and two major market collapses. In  fact, the secret to OPEC’s survival is its weakness, not its strength. Friction  or no friction, OPEC has been, and will always be, irrelevant to market  forces on the ground. OPEC has never had market power, but Saudi Arabia  has, and Saudi market power has always been assigned, mistakenly, to  OPEC...