First off, I don't agree with the Thread name, OPEC doesn't set prices, the market does. And the market doesn't like being manipulated.
OPEC isn't raising the price of oil, they are trying to get their coalition to limit the oil it's pumping to decrease the glut of oil in the market. The production cut wouldn't start until November if it's approved, but you can bet the price of gas will be raised across the country immediately once this news gets out.
And just because OPEC is potentially limiting production that doesn't necessarily mean oil prices will rise, or by very much. Oil demand is falling in many of the major countries importing oil, such as the largest importer, China, so if the demand falls at or near the same rate as the supply, we are still left with prices relatively the same. There are other countries outside of OPEC that can step up their production if they choose to also, such as Russia. And many of the countries with the largest wells are having serious trouble domestically that have been limiting their oil production for months and years, such as Venezuela, Libya, Iraq, Iran etc. You can guarantee many of these countries will be ramping up their production again ASAP.
China has been buying oil like mad the last few years and has supposedly stockpiled 700+ million barrels of oil in it's strategic reserve as well. So if the price of oil does go up, they could be in direct competition with OPEC and sell some of it's own reserve to turn a profit. Combine that with their own oil consumption declining, and this is just more bad news for OPEC.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-30...r-disclose
Saudi Arabia is losing it's ass financially and they are trying to resort to their favorite peak oil tricks by trying to limit production, but it's not going to work like it has in the past because there is so much more competition in the market today, because of the increasing use of alternative energy sources (shale, fracking, solar, etc), and because we are ready to start tapping our own wells and strategic petroleum reserves here domestically.
To me more than anything this news means OPEC is losing a lot of it's relevancy with their global oil monopoly.