Читать книгу Financial Cold War. A View of Sino-US Relations from the Financial Markets онлайн

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Volatility ushered in by the end of Bretton Woods was not just restricted to currency markets. As global oil demand increased in the years after WW2, the US had found itself becoming increasingly dependent on oil imports, particularly from the Middle East. Prior to the 1970s, the international oil companies had been vertically integrated operations, carrying out all the functions from oil exploration to distribution to end customers. However, the end of colonialism and rising nationalism had seen a wave of nationalisations of these natural resources by oil-exporting countries. Consequently, the oil companies no longer owned the oil in the ground and the commodity became increasingly traded through world markets. The devaluation of the dollar angered the exporters, who effectively received less in return for their oil. Meanwhile, price controls in the US discouraged new exploration and boosted consumption, leading to tighter supply. When the Arabs initiated an oil embargo in October 1973 in response to US military assistance to Israel during the Yom Kippur War, prices rocketed. Panic buying saw the posted price for Iranian oil shoot up from $2.90 a barrel in mid-1973 to as high as $22.60.ssss1