oil producing nations

[Greg Boozell]

Can anyone define the relationship of the oil industry with
Middle East oil producing nations.  Recently it has been
reported that OPEC countries have agreed to decrease production
by 3% in order to raise oil prices. I assume that the oil 
industry is going to be a beneficiary of higher oil prices.

My questions are: 
Do the oil companies pay these countries more for oil?  Are
the energy resources in these countries nationalized?  Or do 
the companies operate relatively independently within OPEC
nations?

Thanks for any information on this.

Greg Boozell
cantv at wwa.com