Last week OPEC did something it hasn't done in the past three years...It increased its production ceiling to 30 million barrels a day.

Why the change? According to Bloomberg Business News, OPEC's adjustment was made in order to incorporate "rising exports from post-war Libya."

OPEC admits that their members have paid little attention to the ceiling that was last set in Dec. 2008. Current production exceeded that cap by nearly 3 million barrels per day. The previous target, or cap, it had tried to impose on its members was 24.8 million barrels per day.

Oil industry analysts will wrestle with the new "ceiling" and try to identify whether it yields insight that OPEC doesn't often share. Consider this: The actual production for OPEC's 12 member countries in November 2011 was 30.37 million barrels a day according to OPEC's own estimates.

One might ask whether OPEC's move indicates whether it reflects an expectation of global economic recovery. After all, OPEC will need to produce 30.1 million barrels a day in 2012 to balance word supply and demand, according to OPEC members. Iran's oil minister, who is also president of OPEC, forecast that world oil demand will rise by 1.1 million barrels a day or 1.2 percent in 2012.

You could also ask whether projected increases in U.S. exports are even a blip on OPEC's radar screen but you probably shouldn't hold your breath waiting for an answer. As always, production ceilings are theoretical. OPEC discusses "caps" on production as a collective; but in reality, each member country produces oil in quantities that serve their own best interest... and that can occur to the detriment of fellow OPEC members and in direct opposition the organization's statements for media consumption.

And either way, there are no consequences. OPEC functions like the U.N. Most of what it says is untrue and each of its members would be shocked and rendered speechless if they ever heard anything resembling truth and candor.

What remains unchanged is this; it's still a high stakes card game and OPEC's got all the aces.