ABSTRACT
This chapter traces the development of crude-oil prices from the two major oil-export areas — the Gulf of Mexico and the Arabian Gulf and analyses the factors behind the decrease or increase in the price of crude oil from the Second World War to the present time. The reason for choosing this period is that after the Second World War there was more international trade in crude oil because of the shift of oil refineries from the producing countries to the consuming countries of Europe and Japan. The Arabian Gulf became a basing-point in determining the price of crude oil. After the Korean War, the price of crude oil began to increase in both the United States Gulf Coast and the Arabian Gulf. The price problem was raised between the exporting countries and the producing companies when the latter, without previous consultation with the exporting countries, initiated another two rounds of price reduction.
