Territorial disputes, economic recession, political battles... Three oil crises in 17 years have profoundly affected the world

　　[Global Times Comprehensive Report] Recently, the surge in demand in the global energy market and the continued shortage of supply have plunged the oil and natural gas market into turmoil.

People can't help but think of the three global oil crises that occurred in the 1970s and 1980s.

They have had a serious impact on the world economy and, to a certain extent, have influenced the trend of the international political landscape.

　　3 oil crises in 17 years

　　From 1973 to 1990, three oil crises occurred one after another with the Middle East as the core.

The first oil crisis broke out in 1973, but its roots were buried more than 20 years ago.

After World War II, with the support of the United Nations, Israel was able to recover in the Middle East region surrounded by Arab countries, and began continuous territorial disputes with neighboring Arab countries.

October 6, 1973 is an important religious holiday in Israel-Yom Kippur. Egypt and Syria chose to launch an offensive on this day in order to retake the territories eroded by Israel, which is known as the Yom Kippur War.

Although with the support of the United States, Israel won the war with fewer enemies and more, but the defeated Arabs continued to use oil as a weapon to attack the United States, Japan, and some European countries that backed Israel.

The International Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which is dominated by Middle Eastern countries, made an oil embargo decision on these countries. Western countries that have enjoyed low oil prices for many years were caught off guard.

On October 16, OPEC announced a 70% increase in oil prices to US$5.11 per barrel, and imposed embargo measures on the United States, Japan and some European countries.

At that time, the oil imported from Arab countries accounted for nearly half of the total demand of these countries, and the oil stocks of many countries were seriously insufficient, which could only last for one and a half months.

The shortage of oil caused gasoline prices to soar, which subsequently triggered soaring prices in department stores.

In less than a month, Europe and Japan had to turn to support the demands of Arab countries.

The United States has been supporting it for a longer time because of its own oil production. However, in the face of rising domestic prices, it has to give in and urge Israel to return the relevant territories of Egypt and Syria.

But by the end of 1973, oil prices had soared to $11 a barrel, the price doubled, and finally triggered a global economic crisis that lasted for several years.

　　The second oil crisis was in 1979-1980, and the fuse of this crisis was the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979.

At the beginning of this year, the regime of Iranian King Pahlavi, who has always been pro-American, was overthrown by religious leaders Khomeini, led by religious figures and the public. Iran established the Islamic Republic, and an Iran hostage incident that shocked the world occurred.

Affected by this, the price of crude oil has risen sharply, from US$12 per barrel to about US$40 per barrel in a year.

Consumers who had experienced the first oil crisis had lingering fears and began to panic buying, and gas stations lined up again.

Then in 1980, the Iran-Iraq War led to a sharp decline in oil production and triggered a global economic recession.

　　At the end of 1990, the Gulf War led to the third oil crisis.

After the war, the UN resolution imposed an embargo and sanctions on Iraq, resulting in a reduction of about 20% of the world's total oil supply, and the international oil price once soared to 42 US dollars per barrel.

The outbreak of this crisis was relatively short, and its impact on the economy was smaller than the previous two crises.

But there is also a theory that the third oil crisis broke out as early as 1986.

After the 1980s, with the increasing disunity within the OPEC organization and the emergence of some emerging oil-producing countries, oil prices continued to decline, and oil power returned to the hands of major oil consumers such as the United States, Japan, and Europe.

In 1986, the price of oil was suppressed to below US$10 per barrel, causing serious chaos in the international oil market and a violent impact on the world economy and financial system.

This crisis led to the subsequent invasion of Kuwait by Iraq and the subsequent Gulf War.

The sharp drop in oil prices also triggered the deterioration of the Soviet Union’s fiscal situation and indirectly led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

　　Permeating the struggle for control of oil

　　Looking at the three oil crises, the impact on the world economy is far less significant than the political impact on the international structure. Behind the crises is the competition between countries for development space and oil control.

　　The first is that the rise and fall of OPEC reflects and determines the international status of Arab countries.

After the end of World War II, the oil extraction rights and pricing rights in the Middle East were monopolized by Occidental Petroleum Corporation for a long time, and the oil price even remained at $1 per barrel for many years.

Western countries enjoy the dividend of low oil prices.

In the 1960s, at the beginning of OPEC's establishment, due to the dispute over the interests of oil exports, the organization was not united.

However, several Middle East wars triggered by the Arab-Israeli conflict have urged Middle Eastern countries to unite. OPEC's voice in the international oil market has also increased, and OPEC has also emerged as a political force that cannot be ignored in the world.

The game between oil exporting countries and major consumer countries became an important factor in the first oil crisis.

With the outbreak of the second oil crisis and the Iran-Iraq War and other factors, OPEC's internal divergence intensified. Under the fluctuations, oil control returned to the hands of the United States and Europe. The subsequent plunge in oil prices brought about the third oil crisis. .

In order to counter OPEC, the major oil-consuming countries in the West established the International Energy Organization to hold up groups to contain OPEC’s international discourse power, while also facilitating communication with OPEC through multilateral mechanisms.

　　Second, the oil crisis has prompted countries to pay more and more attention to the national strategic position of oil.

The three oil crises prompted the United States to recognize that Middle East oil is the core interest of the United States. The United States' international layout for decades has served to strengthen its control over the Middle East.

Other countries also regard oil as a strategic material and have established state-owned oil companies one after another, striving to keep the lifeline of oil in their own hands as much as possible.

At the same time, countries also focus on vigorously developing new energy industries.

More importantly, the three oil crises have profoundly affected the trend of the world structure. It is not difficult to see the traces of the oil crisis behind the division of the Arab world and the disintegration of the Soviet Union.

　　Japanese cars take the opportunity to counterattack

　　The oil crisis has also had a considerable impact on people's daily lives.

The energy crisis and the accompanying economic crisis have brought development opportunities for Japanese cars.

During the oil crisis, in order to reduce oil consumption, gas stations in the United States adopted a time-limited fuel supply policy and also adopted speed limit measures in road traffic.

American cars that consume more fuel are becoming increasingly uneconomical.

Japanese cars with light weight and low fuel consumption took the opportunity to counterattack.

It was with the aid of the oil crisis that Japan's Toyota Motor Corporation focused on promoting small, fuel-efficient cars, and won the US market with its overwhelming advertising campaign and preferential prices.

Other Japanese brands such as Nissan and Honda followed suit.

According to statistics, Honda sold only 1,300 vehicles in the United States in 1970, but its sales jumped to around 100,000 after the first oil crisis.

　　After the oil crisis, countries have pursued the diversification of oil sources on the one hand, and have developed alternative energy sources and improved the energy structure to reduce oil consumption.

In order to reduce the excessive dependence on a single energy type, the world's major oil-consuming countries have worked hard to develop different energy types and have continuously increased their R&D investment in nuclear energy, wind energy, and solar energy.

Energy-saving technologies for vehicles such as automobiles have also received unprecedented attention due to the oil crisis and have become important design indicators.