Will the 1973 oil crisis be repeated in America due to the Gaza war?
Oil crisis in 1973
The head of the International Energy Agency said the war in Gaza was "certainly not good news" for oil markets already stressed by oil production cuts from Saudi Arabia and Russia and expected stronger demand from China.
Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the Paris-based International Energy Agency, told the Associated Press that the markets will remain volatile, and the conflict may lead to higher oil prices, which is certainly bad news for inflation. He said that they are the most affected by the rise in prices, noting that the volatility has pushed oil prices. To rise to $96.
The price of oil depends on the quantity used and the quantity available, the latter of which is threatened by the war in Gaza, even though the Strip is not a major source of oil production.
“In order to achieve sustained price movement, we will really need to see supply disruptions,” said Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, a Houston-based consulting firm. But experts said the hit this time would not be as severe as the 1973 crisis because... US oil production has reached its highest levels ever. The US Energy Information Administration, affiliated with the Department of Energy, reported that US oil production in the first week of October reached 13.2 million barrels per day, exceeding the previous record recorded in 2020 by 100,000 barrels. It has doubled. Weekly domestic oil production from the first week in October 2012 to date.
“The 1973 energy crisis taught us many things, but most important, in my view, is that America’s energy power is a tremendous source of security, prosperity, and freedom around the world,” said Mike Sommers, president and CEO of the American Foundation.
“We cannot squander our strategic advantage and retreat from energy leadership,” added Somers, who has repeatedly criticized President Joe Biden's policies restricting new oil leases as part of Biden's efforts to slow global climate change.
“With an unstable world, war in Europe, war in the Middle East, energy security is at stake,” Somers added in a speech at the Hudson Institute, a think tank in Washington. “American oil and gas are needed now more than "Ever now, let us take the lessons we learned from 1973 to heart and avoid sowing the seeds of the next energy crisis."
For now, the crisis is not a repeat of 1973. Arab countries are not attacking Israel uniformly, and OPEC+ countries have not moved to restrict supplies or increase prices beyond a few extra dollars.