ABSTRACT
As the world’s leading oil consumer, the United States has played a central role in the international response to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). OPEC was organized to strengthen the oil producers’ bargaining position against the companies and their parent governments. American attitudes toward OPEC changed dramatically as the global oil market was transformed during the 1970s. By 1973, the US government was beginning to adopt a more adversarial stance toward OPEC. US imports were rapidly increasing and talk of an ‘energy crisis’ was becoming common even before the Arab embargo. The second part of Henry Kissinger’s strategy was to divide OPEC’s members from each other and from their allies in the developing world. Ronald Reagan justified that move with the usual anti-OPEC arguments, claiming that price controls had made the United States ‘more energy-dependent on the OPEC nations, a development that has jeopardized our economic security and undermined price stability at home’.
