Middle Eastern Oil since the Second World War

Abstract

The Arab countries of the Middle East and North Africa together with Iran now produce nearly two-thirds of the oil in world trade. Even more importantly, they pos sess some three-fourths of the total world reserves outside the communist countries. Western Europe and Japan depend on this oil for an ever increasing proportion of their energy re quirements, and no substitute source of energy that will diminish this dependence significantly in the foreseeable future is now apparent. In the next ten years the United States must also begin to depend on the Middle East for a substantial portion of its oil requirements. The returns from oil to the governments of the oil-producing countries have changed and continue to change all aspects of life in these countries including their relationships with each other and with the rest of the world.