MERRILLVILLE, Indiana (AFP) - Hillary Clinton has made a new vow to confront OPEC, after oil broke the symbolic 120 dollars a barrel barrier on the eve of the next White House nominating showdown.

"We're going to go right at OPEC," Clinton said, on a last-minute campaign swing ahead of Tuesday's Indiana and North Carolina primary clashes against her Democratic rival Barack Obama.

"They can no longer be a cartel, a monopoly that get together once every couple of months in some conference room in some plush place in the world," Clinton said, sparking cheers in a crowded fire station.

"They decide how much oil they're going to produce and what price they're going to put it at," Clinton said.

"That's not a market. That's a monopoly," Clinton said, in her latest condemnation of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, as her campaign takes on an increasingly populist tone amid rising gasoline prices.

OPEC, which produces 40 percent of the world's oil, comprises Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela.

Clinton has said she would amend US anti-trust law to allow the United States to confront OPEC, and also promised to tackle the group through the World Trade Organization (WTO), if she is elected president.

AFP, May 6, 2008