Word: petroleum
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...OPEC's failure to agree on a single price presents the oil-importing nations with a rare chance. If they substantially reduce their consumption of crude, prices at long last could be braked. Decreasing demand for petroleum can easily stampede OPEC's members into a back-stabbing rush to hang onto their customers by offering all sorts of discounts and deals. Already there are signs that this year's 100% increase in crude oil costs is beginning to crimp cartel sales. U.S. oil imports dropped by 8.5% during November to 7.9 million bbl. daily, suggesting that...
...Caracas gathering itself revealed a cartel in deepening disarray over how to cope 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...
With OPEC in disarray and vulnerable, bold action by oil-importing nations to cut their dependence on foreign petroleum cannot be easily countered by cartel members. Operating through OPEC, their monopolistic, price-propping has placed an enormous and continuing burden on oil consumers everywhere. Economist Otto Eckstein, president of Data Resources Inc., estimates that OPEC'S policies have been bloating the world's oil bill by $40 billion to $60 billion a year. Says he: "We need that cartel like we need a tourniquet around our necks. Any form of free competition is going to lead...
...action. Year after year, that action has been impeded by debate over which groups in the population, which regions of the country, should make the largest economic and environmental sacrifices. After Caracas, it was clear that unless the U.S. accepts some compromises that will cut its consumption of precious petroleum, the OPEC cartel will simply regroup and start pushing up prices in unison once again...
...Islamic revolution in Iran has sent out shock waves of confusion and distress throughout the monarchies of the Middle East. A state of jitters prevails in the Arabian peninsula, whose petroleum exports are vital to the security of the U.S. and its allies. The rulers of Saudi Arabia, the largest oil exporter of all, are reported to be frightened; a new set of security regulations is in force throughout the country. The governments of the tiny states of the Persian Gulf are also worried, about both their Shi'ite and Palestinian populations and about the wave of Islamic fundamentalism...