The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, Dec. 20, edition that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which pumps about 30 per cent of the world's oil, is going through an existential crisis. The Globe's Eric Reguly writes that a plethora of analysts and commentators have concluded OPEC has lost control of the oil market and is pretty much finished. OPEC decided it would not support the price by reducing its own output. Mr. Reguly says the problem with OPEC's low-price strategy is that it hurts the cartel, too. Its 12 member states are not created equal. The ones in the Gulf -- Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates -- probably have the financial muscle to endure low prices for some time. Not so the weak OPEC members -- Venezuela, Nigeria, Libya and perhaps Iran. Mr. Reguly says if OPEC falls apart, it will not be because it has lost control of a market swimming in American oil. He says it will be because the low-price policy is sabotaging the economy and finances of a few of its own members. The Globe says OPEC is becoming a cannibal family, one that eats its own. Letting prices drop is hurting some OPEC countries more than the non-OPEC ones.