| Organization Of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries |
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On January 9, 1968 three of the (then) most conservative Arab oil states Kuwait , Libya and Saudi Arabia agreed in Beirut to found OAPEC, aiming to separate oil production and sale from politics in the wake of the halfhearted 1967 oil embargo related to the Six Day War . Such use of the oil weapon in the struggle against Israel had been regularly proposed at Arab Petroleum Congresses, but it took this war for it to happen. However, Saudi Arabia's oil production was up 9% for that year, and the main embargo lasted only ten days and was completely ended by the Khartoum Conference . OAPEC was originally intended to be a conservative Arab political organization which by its restriction in membership to countries whose main export was oil would exclude governments seen as radical, like Egypt and Algeria and by the additional rule that the three founders' approval was necessary for new members also initially kept out Iraq . The original aim was to control or prevent the use of the oil weapon from being swayed by popular emotion. However, by early 1972, the criterion for admission changed to oil being an important, rather than principal source of revenue, Algeria , Iraq , Syria and Egypt had been admitted, and the organization became much more activist, contrary to the original intention. Meeting in Kuwait on the same day, October 16th, 1973, as the Persian Gulf members of OPEC , (i.e., also including Iran ) ten days after the Yom Kippur War started, OAPEC resolved to cut oil production 5% monthly "until the Israeli forces are completely evacuated from all the Arab territories occupied in the June 1967 war..." In 1979, Egypt was expelled from OAPEC for signing the Camp David Accords , but it was readmitted a decade later. It is now regarded as a regional specialized International Organization and focuses on organizing cooperation on oil development, collective projects and regional integration. At present it has eleven members, Algeria , Bahrain , Egypt , Iraq , Kuwait , Libya , Qatar , Saudi Arabia , Syria , Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates . Tunisia asked to withdraw in 1986 and its membership is currently suspended. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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