Word: petroleum
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...brash boomtowns that flourished in the early 1980s, when energy prices were peaking. Six years ago, Evanston, Wyo., a dusty town (pop. 1,250) on the Utah border, was dubbed "Oil City, U.S.A." because of its strategic location atop the Overthrust Belt, then a choice location for petroleum exploration. Oil-rig workers earned upwards of $1,000 a week. Recalls Jerry Cazin, 77, who has owned the Cazin & Houtz hardware store in Evanston for 51 years: "People thought they were going to be in clover all their lives." Today the area's wells have stopped pumping...
...citizens in petroleum-gulping countries from the U.S. to South Korea, oil so cheap is an unexpected and unbelievable windfall. A Vermont homeowner may enjoy a heating-fuel bill cut nearly in half next winter. An Italian consumer can celebrate the lowest inflation in 14 years. A family in Chad stands a better chance of getting adequate food because petrochemical fertilizers have become less expensive. A motorist in the Philippines can enjoy a 30% drop in the price of premium...
...fortunate ones can scarcely enjoy their energy feast, however, without noticing the look of distress on the faces of their neighbors. For the same plunge that benefits oil users has battered the regions that produce petroleum. In Saudi Arabia, an Egyptian worker is likely to lose his high- paying job and return home to poverty. A Mexico City family may no longer be able to afford meat and vegetables because government food subsidies have been slashed. A well-drilling entrepreneur in Oklahoma could face bankruptcy and the loss of his business to creditors. A bank loan officer in California...
...Like the petroleum crisis of the past decade, which threatened the industrial might of the West, the oil slide is changing the balance of economic power. The price drop, from a peak of $35 per bbl. in 1981, has greatly reduced the flow of billions upon billions of dollars from consuming countries to the producers. The so-called petrodollar drain of 1979-83 had contributed to the worst global economic slump since the Great Depression. But cheap oil will act as a giant tax cut, or perhaps a lottery jackpot, for the consumers and businesses of such large industrial countries...
...concern about the disruption of domestic oil production. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Energy Secretary John Herrington laid down a warning to Saudi Arabia, the country that helped start the current price war by drastically boosting its output. The kingdom's strategy has "created severe problems for the American petroleum industry," Herrington said, and could have "political implications" for the Saudis if they continue...