oil+and+iran



In October, 1973, panic gripped the United States. The crude oil-rich Middle-Eastern countries had cut off exports of petroleum to Western nations as punishment for their involvement in recent Arab-Israeli conflicts. Although the oil embargo would not ordinarily have made a tremendous impact on the US, panicking investors and oil companies caused a gigantic surge in oil prices.

The situation, caused more by fear and irrationality than any firm economic basis, turned out to be one of the most memorable of the 1970s. Those who can remember the so-called "Mideast oil crisis" also remember long lines at the gas pump due to petroleum shortages and high gasoline prices next