Here’s some more color on Oil: The WSJ decided to track the past few decades of Crude’s price history, both adjusted (and not) for inflation (quite informative).
click for larger graphic
Courtesy of WSJ
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Here’s their timeline:
1970: U.S. oil output peaks and begins a long decline
March 18, 1974: Arab oil embargo ends
November 1974: Industrialized nations found International Energy Agency, commit to holding strategic oil reserves
Feb. 11, 1979: Iran is in revolution; the followers of Ayatollah Khomeini come to power
Second quarter of 1979: Amid price increase free-for-all among OPEC members, Saudi Arabia cuts production
Sept. 22, 1980: Iran-Iraq war begins
Jan. 28, 1981: President Reagan lifts U.S. oil price and allocation controls
March 30, 1983: Crude-oil futures begin trading in New York
November – December 1985: Opec decides to increase market share; price war begins
August 2, 1990: Iraq invades Kuwait
April 1994: U.S. net imports of oil begin to consistently exceed domestic production
July 2, 1997: Asian economic crisis errupts; oil demand drops
September 11, 2001: Terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C.
March 19, 2003: U.S.- and British-led coalition invades Iraq
November 13, 2003: Amid growing demand, supply disruptions and Middle
East tensions, IEA says China is biggest driver of global oil demand
