Word: crude
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...impact on Western economies. 1979 was the year in which the world economy moved from an era of recurrent oil surpluses into an age of chronic shortages. Indeed, it was a year in which the frequent warnings of pessimists that the industrial nations had made themselves dangerously dependent on crude oil imported from highly unstable countries came true with a vengeance. For more than three centuries the industrial West had prospered thanks partly to resources from colonies or quasi-colonies. Now a great historical reversal was at hand...
...tied up under contract is sold for whatever price buyers will pay. Before the Iranian revolution, the spot market accounted for only 5% of the oil moving in world trade, and prices differed little from OPEC's official ones. During 1979, anywhere from 10% to 33% of internationally traded crude bought by the industrial countries went through the spot market, and prices shot as high...
...filth of the meatpacking industry, the sinister evil of Joe McCarthy, the links between political espionage and government officials--does not deserve to be called reporting. It is repeating what others have told, even if what they have said is pointless or silly. At best it is crude history ("History on the run," Woodward called it during his Harvard appearance), but historians too usually look for a way to focus their work, to prove a point, to establish a theory...
...with the topsy-turvy world of petroleum. The yearlong production cutbacks in Iran have tightened supplies and stirred chaos in oil markets everywhere. Cartel members such as Algeria, Libya and Nigeria have been ignoring official OPEC price lists. Iran has been dreaming up gimmicks to lift the cost of crude under contracts already signed at lower prices. The favorite tactic: requiring customers to buy at least some oil at up to $45 per bbl. Customers who balked have been threatened with loss of their long-term supply contracts...
...hospital rooms, $500 off-the-rack men's suits, the 25? Hershey bar and the $3.50 martini. Millions of Americans had to postpone their dreams for a home of their own; the average price of a few-frills new house surged from $59,000 to $65,000. Crude oil spurted to $45 per bbl. on the spot market, and gasoline sold for up to $1.28 per gal. at the pump...