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N0KFQ > TODAY 17.10.12 16:33l 49 Lines 2289 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 29766_KB0WSA
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Subj: Today in History - Oct 17
Path: IZ3LSV<IR1UAW<IW2OHX<IW0QNL<IK6ZDE<VE2PKT<N4JOA<N4ZKF<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 121017/1510Z 29766@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.53
...
Oct 17, 1973:
OPEC states declare oil embargo
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
implements what it calls "oil diplomacy" on this day in 1973: It
prohibits any nation that had supported Israel in its "Yom Kippur
War" with Egypt, Syria and Jordan from buying any of the oil it
sells. The ensuing energy crisis marked the end of the era of
cheap gasoline and caused the share value of the New York Stock
Exchange to drop by $97 billion. This, in turn, ushered in one of
the worst recessions the United States had ever seen.
In the middle of 1973, even before the OPEC embargo, an American
oil crisis was on the horizon: Domestic reserves were low (about
52 billion barrels, a 10-year supply); the United States was
importing about 27 percent of the crude petroleum it needed every
year; and gasoline prices were rising. The 1973 war with Israel
made things even worse. OPEC announced that it would punish
Israel's allies by implementing production cuts of 5 percent a
month until that nation withdrew from the occupied territories
and restored the rights of the Palestinians. It also declared
that the true "enemies" of the Arab cause (in practice, this
turned out to mean the United States and the Netherlands) would
be subject to an indefinite "total embargo." Traditionally,
per-barrel prices had been set by the oil companies themselves,
but in December, OPEC announced that from then on, its members
would set their own prices on the petroleum they exported. As a
result, the price of a barrel of oil went up to $11.65, 130
percent higher than it had been in October and 387 percent higher
than it had been the year before.
Domestic oil prices increased too, but shortages persisted.
People waited for hours in long lines at gas stations_at some New
Jersey pumps, lines were four miles long!--and by the time the
embargo ended in March 1974, the average retail price of gas had
climbed to 84 cents per gallon from 38 cents per gallon. Sales of
smaller, more fuel-efficient cars skyrocketed. At the same time,
declining demand for the big, heavy gas-guzzlers that most
American car companies were producing spelled disaster for the
domestic auto industry.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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