Energy Crisis, 1969-1974

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U.S. Government Printing Office, May 15, 2012 - Business & Economics - 1098 pages

The Foreign Relations of the United States series presents the official documentary historical record of major foreign policy decisions and significant diplomatic activity of the United States Government.

This volume is part of a subseries of the Foreign Relations of the United States that documents the most significant foreign policy issues and major decisions of the administrations of Richard M. Nixon and Gerald R. Ford. This volume documents U.S. policy toward the global energy crisis beginning in 1969 and ending with Nixon's departure from office in August 1974. It will be followed by volume XXXVII, which covers the energy crisis during the administrations of Presidents Gerald R. Ford and Jimmy Carter, from 1974 until 1980.

This volume documents the U.S. response to the changes that took place between and among the oil producing nations, the consuming nations, and the oil companies. From 1969 to 1974 the established practices of the international oil industry, based on contractual obligations between producing nations and corporate entities that established production amounts and a pricing structure for oil, disappeared. The consequences were global in nature, stretching from budgetary windfalls for the producing states, to equally significant windfall profits for the corporations, to a shift in the global monetary balance of power, and finally to budgetary drains on all consuming nations. As a consequence of this power shift, the oil-producing Arab nations were able to impose an embargo on the United States in the wake of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war as a punishment for its support of Israel and as leverage in the post-war peace negotiations. While the volume's spotlight is on U.S. policymaking, a secondary focus is on events and policy repercussions in major energy consuming and producing states such as Canada, Venzuela, Great Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.

Within this broad framework, the volume covers a range of topics and themes, the foremost of which is the U.S. effort to negotiate an end to the 1973 embargo. Additionally, there is in-depth coverage of the administration's attempt to reformulate its oil import program in 1969, negotiations between international oil companies and oil producing states, efforts to create bureaucratic institutions to deal with energy issues, and attempts to prepare U.S. consumers to adjust to the long-term consequences of tighter oil market and higher priced oil.


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