Arab nations' reduced oil production in response to the Arab-Israel War of 1973.
Members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC) decided in late October 1973 to cut oil production by 25 percent until Israel withdrew to the 1949 armistice lines. OAPEC also decided to cut off oil to the United States and the Netherlands to protest U.S. military and Dutch political support for Israel. Exempted from the boycott were France, Spain, Muslim countries, and Great Britain (conditionally). The remaining countries divided whatever oil was left between them. The result was a fourfold increase in the price of oil. The embargo was lifted in March 1974.
Bibliography
Yergin, Daniel. The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, andPower. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1993.
— BRYAN DAVES
