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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 January 2009
Since the quadrupling of oil prices in 1973–74, OPEC and oil prices have made front-page news and captured the public imagination. It is no secret that oil prices are administered prices, where an economic agent is a price maker; other participants in the market have to adjust their behavior to this price. It is not a new phenomenon. From its early history, the oil industry in the United States — by far the world's first oil province — was dominated by the Standard Oil Trust. On the international scene, the role of the Seven Sisters hardly needs mention. They continued to control oil export prices until the 1960s.
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4 It has been suggested, by OPEC Secretariat studies, that OPEC's foreign assets denominated in dollars amounted to about $96 billion at the end of 1977.Google Scholar