Events
1973 Oil Shock
Also Known As 1973 Oil Crisis · OPEC Oil Embargo
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In October 1973, Arab members of OPEC halted oil sales to the United States and other supporters of Israel in the Yom Kippur War and cut production, in part to gain leverage in the postwar settlement. The price of a barrel of oil roughly quadrupled, from about 2.90 dollars before the embargo to 11.65 dollars by January 1974. The shock triggered fuel shortages and rationing across importing economies and, arriving alongside the breakdown of the Bretton Woods exchange rate system, is widely credited with helping trigger the stagflation of the 1970s.
Facts
Event DateOctober 19, 1973 is the conventionally cited date the Saudi embargo decision became public, in the days after OAPEC's October 17 decision to cut production; the wider embargo unfolded over the following days. LocationMiddle East and global oil markets 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
The quadrupling of oil prices is widely credited as a proximate trigger of 1970s stagflation.
Sources
1. Milestones: Oil Embargo, 1973-1974
United States Department of State, Office of the HistorianMilestones: Oil Embargo, 1973-1974Quote, Milestones: Oil Embargo, 1973-1974
The embargo laid bare one of the foremost challenges confronting U.S. policy in the Middle East, that of balancing the contradictory demands of unflinching support for Israel and the preservation of close ties to the Arab oil-producing monarchies.
1. Milestones: Oil Embargo, 1973-1974
United States Department of State, Office of the HistorianAssociated With: 1970s StagflationView the Source 2. Wikipedia
Wikimedia Foundation1973 oil crisis, EmbargoQuote, 1973 oil crisis, Embargo
On the afternoon of 19 October 1973, Faisal was in his office when he learned about the United States sending $2.2 billion worth of weapons to Israel
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