Word: crude
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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Under normal circumstances, neither of the U.S.'s actions should lead to such results. Oil imports from Iran amount to a scant 4% of total U.S. consumption. In theory, at least, those purchases could be easily replaced by swapping: oil companies could exchange Iranian crude with other companies that have equal amounts of non-Iranian petroleum. Nor in theory should the freezing of Iranian bank assets prove especially disruptive to money markets or the banking system. The Tehran government's estimated $6 billion in petrodollar holdings is only a fraction of the more than $150 billion that...
...which is still hurting from the two-month loss of Iranian crude earlier this year, almost any new interruption in supply, no matter how modest or brief, will lead to tighter markets and higher prices. In their present jittery state, Americans are ready to start topping off gas tanks for almost any reason. Not only does the memory of a summer spent in gas lines remain fresh and infuriating, but so does the specter of the 1973 Arab embargo, which ushered in the age of energy upset...
...Kahn, admitted that his earlier hopes for the nation to be out of double-digit inflation by next spring have been eliminated by increases in oil prices and mortgage rates. Kahn argued that inflation will not be brought under control so long as OPEC continues raising the cost of crude and the U.S. remains dependent on foreign oil. As a means of lessening that reliance, he said, the Administration had been considering a 500 per gal. gasoline tax and even gasoline rationing...
...focus of the trouble is the jumpy and uncontrolled spot market, that loose network of brokers and hustlers who buy and sell available crude wherever they can for whatever the market will bear. OPEC sells most of its oil under contracts that can run from a month to a year or more, but cartel leaders watch the day-to-day spot market closely; when spot quotes climb, insatiable oil producers begin demanding more for their shipments...
Early last week typical spot prices for Persian Gulf crude stood at $37 to $38 per bbl., vs. OPEC's official maximum of $23.50. After the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, rumors swirled that anti-American fanatics were shutting the tap on exports. Spot traders began desperately scrambling to buy spare cargoes. In Rotterdam, prices ticked up almost by the hour. In New York City, some sellers were demanding an astronomical $47 to $48 per bbl. Though heating oil is retailing in New York at about 850 per gal., spot market imports of the fuel were going...