The Oil Revolution
Chapter 5 describes the OAPEC oil embargo and then explains the reasons for the “oil shock”, with its fourfold increase in the price of crude oil by December 1973. After the price increases of 1973 the governments of consuming countries now entered directly the arena of international energy politics with the convening of the Washington Energy Conference of 1974 and then the creation of the International Energy Agency (IEA) by the end of the same year. This chapter also explains why OPEC strived to present itself as the “spearhead” for Third World countries, hoping to establish a New International Economic Order that would reform international economic institutions and promote a kind of globalization more in line with the needs of raw materials producers and developing countries. The apex of this effort by OPEC was achieved in March 1975 with the convening of the OPEC summit of Algiers.