YERGIN CHAPTER 35 -- JUST ANOTHER COMMODITY?

The oil boom exceeded all previous booms in size, moving vast sums of money from consumer to producer countries. The oil price boom was accompanied by a boom in the price of real estate, drilling crews, geology majors, geologists. There was a general belief that the world was entering a period to be characterized by dwindling oil stocks and ever-higher prices. Shale oil technology became a popular avenue for seeking new oil supplies. As oil price and demand dropped, shale oil became non-viable. Ghost towns appeared where previous oil shale development had been going on.

CHAPTER 34 OUTLINE -- WE'RE GOING DOWN

Chapter 34 is entitled, 'We're going down.'

In a youth revolt, sixty-three American embassy workers in Iran were taken hostage. Thirteen were quickly released, but the remaining fifty were the subject of a drawn-out international affair.

The hostage takers were upset that the US had accepted the Shah into the country for treatment for his leukemia. The US attempted to conceal his presence but word quickly got out. Iranian authorities demanded that the Shah be handed over to them for examination to see whether he was faking his illness.

Yergin Chapter 33 Outline

Chapter 33 is entitled 'The Second Shock: The Great Panic".

A newspaper article, possibly by the Shah's employees, harshly criticized the Shah's opponent, the Ayatollah Khomeini.

Chapter 31 outline

Here's a much more full outline of chapter 31:

Chapter 31 is called OPEC's Imperium

OPEC began extremely week and neglected, only first coming into real power in the middle of the 1970's, with "OPEC's golden age" occuring between 1974 and 1978, as oil pricing became a dominant issue in international affairs.

Chapter 30 Outline

Here's a bare-bones outline of chapter 31 from Yergin:

The embargo signalled the beginning of the politicization of oil.

14% of world oil supplies were taken off the market; US furious.

Gas lines appeared in the US and lack of oil frightened the American people.

Nixon talked a good talk about solving America's oil problems, but failed to.

Large oil companies found themselves far more deeply involved in politics than they expected.

The Shah was merciless in his attitude toward the developed world.

The new troubles with oil prices led to a rash of bilateral deals, which politicized oil prices even more and lead to friction between the US and its allies.

The Arab world finally caved and lifted the embargo, partially with help from Saudi Arabia's king Faisal and Anwar Sadat, but it was too late for Nixon, who was on the road to resignation by this point.

chapter 29 outline

Here's a bare-bones chapter 29 outline:

The US oil import system was a loop-hole filled mess as the demand for imported oil continued to climb. Nixon finally abolished the quota system.

The radicals in OPEC began to push for the end of the Tehran agreement, wanting to send prices higher.

Anwar Sadat decided to go to war with Israel.

Once the US reached 100% production, it had lost just about all meaningful leverage for oil prices. Faisal initially did not want to go along with an embargo to raise prices, but finally caved in.

Sadat got support from Faisal for the invasion of Israel.