The worldwide havoc and resulting energy price explosion wrought by the Arab embargo of oil sales established the oil exporting nations who dominate the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) cartel as the key force shaping recent events in the international economic arena.' Realizing that OPEC oil has no substitutes available at short notice and that large new quantities of other kinds of energy will be available no earlier than the mid-1980s in most industrialized countries, it is easy to predict that OPEC will play a leading role in shaping the substance of international economic relations for a long time to come. After examining economic, political, and technological factors likely to affect the performance of world petroleum markets over the next 10-15 years, the ultimate aim of this paper will be to describe what OPEC's future role is likely to be.