who sets crude oi prices?

["Mazine Kessaissia" <mazine.kessaissia@mail.utexas.edu>]

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: the New York
Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the International Petroleum Exchange in London
(IPE) and the Singapore International Monetary Exchange (SIMEX).