The Oil Factor
Chapter One
Thirty Years of Oil
The most important events in history, the ones that will have the
greatest impact on our lives for years to come, often slip by
unnoticed at the time. Go to a library and scan issues of the New
York Times from the fall of 1960. What was making news in that
presidential election year, apart from coverage of the Kennedys'
glamour and Nixon's five-o'clock shadow? Two tiny islands called
Quemoy and Matsu; and Nikita Khrushchev; and our fledgling space
program.
Definitely not grabbing headlines, in an era when oil was priced at
under $2 a barrel and the U.S. satisfied around 70 percent of its
oil needs through domestic production, was the decision, in
September 1960, by five countries-Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
and Venezuela-to form a loose coalition called the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting States, or OPEC. But the ultimate repercussions
of that event have been massive. In fact, as we will detail below,
it is no exaggeration to say that OPEC, which gradually expanded to
include Qatar, Indonesia, Libya, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria ... read full excerpt from: The Oil Factor: Protect Yourself-and Profit-from the Coming Energy Crisis ebook
