It's happy birthday to Opec - 60 years old on Monday (September 14).

And it's been an eventful six decades.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries was founded to counter the strength of U.S. and British oil companies.

In 1973, its Arab members brought the U.S. economy to its knees with an embargo.

Now though, analysts say the cartel is more likely to do Washington's bidding.

Shifts in global politics and a surge in America's oil production have somewhat tamed the group.

And OPEC's most hawkish members, Iran and Venezuela, have been sidelined by U.S. sanctions.

OPEC officials say its kingpin, Saudi Arabia, has shown it would rather appease Washington than risk losing U.S. support.

When prices got too low for U.S. drilling companies to make money this year, OPEC hashed out a deal to bring them back up slightly.

Sources say that was spurred by Washington's threat to reduce its military backing for Riyadh.

But the group may have to make a fairly big birthday wish this year...

World oil demand will fall more steeply in 2020 than previously forecast, OPEC said Monday (Sep 14).

In its monthly report, it predicts demand will tumble by 9.46 million barrels per day (bpd) this year.

Oil prices have collapsed as the coronavirus crisis has curtailed travel and economic activity.

And a rising number of new cases and higher oil output have weighed on prices of late.

Crude was trading below $40 a barrel on Monday after the report was released.

That's below levels that many OPEC members need to balance their budgets.

Prices have fallen by almost 15% so far this month.