Oil Has Been Used By Domestic And Foreign Governments On The Development Of The Middle East

Currently Saudi Arabia is one of the leading producers of oil in the world. However, it is losing its foothold on the market. Many countries, like North America, are increasing their oil production and are looking for ways to become less dependent on foreign oil. The increased competition has caused oil prices to decrease. By producing their own oil, countries not only will increase their revenues, but will also reduce their need to rely on foreign oil. By reducing their need foreign an oil a country does not have to worry that their oil supply will be cut off if they go to war.

There are some immediate consequences caused by the Yom Kippur War. The Arabs used oil as a political weapon, which led to a huge economic problem and oil shortage in the world. On 17 October 1973, the price of oil was cut by 70 per

The two most important resources in this region are oil and water. The huge oil “deposits there and in the neighboring countries around the Persian Gulf (the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, and Bahrain) established these countries as some of the richest in the world” (Document F). Nevertheless, the countries who do not have as much access to oil are weak economically. Oil is the biggest export in the Middle East, and in a way, the amount of oil a country has determines how wealthy that country will be. Another component of oil is that countries and ethnic groups are disputing for the control of prices of this economic resource. It has gone to the far extent of foreign countries attempting to control the oil price and also the use of weapons for this (Document E). In addition, it is impossible for each country to have equal access to water due to the unbalanced distribution of these essential resources. As a result of this, these countries are fighting for as much control of water sources they can get. Radically, there are many countries in the Middle East that are striving to obtain as many natural resources to strengthen their economy and lifestyle, and it seems most obvious that the scarcity of these resources is a significant problem in the region

Oil has often been referred to as any economy’s lifeblood. Although this is an overemphasis, oil has been the key, nonhuman resource of the economy throughout the largest part of the 20th century. In the book “The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, And Power” by Daniel Yergin, the author illustrates the political, societal, economic, and geo-strategic importance of this product.

Oil has made many dreams come true. Oil was the best thing that had ever happened to some people and the opposite for others. Oil has not only brought income to people but it has brought new schools and educations, New jobs for people who need them, but sadly has also caused divorce.

In 1973, an oil crisis began when the members of the OAPEC (consisting of the Arab members of OPEC, plus Egypt, Syria and Tunisia) proclaimed an oil embargo in response to the United States decision to resupply the Israeli military during the Yom Kippur War. The embargo happened when 85% of American workers had to drive to work every day. President

Nothing was possible without the oil. John D. Rockefeller became filthy rich on how much oil was used during the Civil War. America ran and still does to this day, run on oil. They used oil in almost all of the refining capacity. “So here is where things are now: oil companies have majority position on very close to it in both coal and uranium. They are leaders in the technology that will open up the future alternatives, particularly the synthetics from coal.” (Greider, A17). People already knew that when the oil took over, they were going to run the show. The reason for this is because the oil they used was needed for everything like said before. They used it for their cars, wagons, machines,

Oil was very important during this war because technology was evolving a lot and it was needed for guns, weapons, transportation. There was a “severe shortage developed in 1917-18”(doc 7). This was because it was all being used a lot so this caused France and Britain to want to take control of the Middle East a lot. Oil was in very high demand and they both needed a lot of it for the war and even technology out of the war too. In document 8, it is made clear that as the Ottoman Empire collapsed Brittan already was moving into taking control because of this same reason for the oil and resources. The reason this happened was because Britain had already realized before they would be needing more oil and wanted to take control right away. The chart in document 9 showed that as the timeline got to the 1900’s the consumption of oil shot up a crazy amount. This is as result of the war and all the new technology because of it. So a huge reason the Middle East got affected so much was because of their oil they

The Middle East is very important to the US. Many events have happened since our involvement with the Middle East such as the Cold War, the OPEC oil embargo, the Camp David Accords, the Persian Gulf War, and the 9/11 attacks. Over time, the US has went from focusing on containment to natural resources and then defense and safety in the Middle East and America.

From the 1800’s to present day, the Middle East has undergone many changes and continuities causing formation of their national identity, main factors that contributed were social aspects on society, government structure, and the strong religious roots they possess. The majority of changes occurred through the society aspects with the treatment of women and the discovery of oil. In Middle Eastern history women have had limited rights and have always been unequal to men. Women have always remained very conservative; being sheltered from other men not being able to go in public being covered from head to toe. The discovery of oil has also created many opportunities for the Middle East giving them a national identity and increasing economy.

Conflict over energy resources—and the wealth and power they create—has become an increasingly prominent feature for geopolitics particularly in the Middle East . The discovery of oil in the late nineteenth century added a dimension to the region as major outside states powers employed military force to protect their newly acquired interests in the Middle East. The U.S.’s efforts to secure the flow of oil have led to ever increasing involvement in the Middle East region’s political affairs and ongoing power struggles. By the end of the twentieth century, safeguarding the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf had become one of the most important functions of the U.S. military establishment. The close relationship between the United States and the Saudi royal family was formed in the final months of World War II, when U.S. leaders sought to ensure preferential access to Saudi petroleum. The U.S. link with Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region has demonstrated to be greatly beneficial to both parties, yet it has also led to ever deepening U.S. involvement in regional politics.

The Importance of Oil in U.S. Foreign Policy During the oil and energy crisis of the mid-1970s Americans became painfully aware of the consequences of the United States dependence on foreign sources of oil. Unfortunately, research and exploration for alternative sources of oil in North America has not been pursued vigorously enough to cease such foreign dependence. As a result, in the mid-1990s Americans find themselves in the same precarious position as they were during the 1970s. The Persian-Gulf War in 1991 was all the proof needed to convince the United States of how strongly oil still influences our foreign policy and international relations in general. Oil and U.S. Foreign Policy: Historical Issues The United

This economic modernization in the Middle East, could only be a short term success which does not guarantee the successful and stable economic development of oil rich states and the region as a whole in the long term. The Middle East, despite its vast reserves of oil, is still considered a developing region due to the high reliance on oil revenues and rather weak production sector of the economy as well as due to some political factors such as lack of democracy, corruption, reluctance to the reforms and other issues. There are various reasons as to why the Middle East is still considered a developing region despite its oil wealth. Natural resource revenues have also been linked to slow economic growth rates, inequality, and poverty. One culprit may be "Dutch disease," which was discussed earlier. Other factors may include the volatility associated with commodity prices, which can have especially negative impacts on weak-state economies; and the underdevelopment of agricultural and manufacturing sectors during boom periods in resource-based economies. And even when oil abundance produces high growth, it often benefits only a few corrupt elites rather than translating into higher living standards for most of the population. Corruption is one of the economic deficiencies which can weaken economic growth and development; thus it is considered as an important impediment to economic growth and political stability, particularly in developing countries. The dependence on a

Oil has repeatedly been referred to as any economy’s lifeblood. Whereas this is an overemphasis, oil has been the utmost key, nonhuman resource of economy throughout the largest part of the 20th century. In the book “The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, And Power” by Daniel Yergin, the author illustrates the political, societal, economic, and geo-strategic prominence of this product. The book was published by Simon and Schuster in 2011 in New York, and contains 928 pages, as its ISBN is 1439134839. This research paper aims to provide a book review on Daniel Yergin’s “The Prize.”

The United States has been involved in the affairs of the Middle East for decades and they’ve had various reasons for being there, whether it was to wage war or to prevent outside influence that would undermine their own influence in the region, it always seemed to revolve around one thing: oil. As we all know, oil is a very profitable resource and it’s a huge part of many nations’ economies and because this is the case many wars are fought over this black liquid. The U.S. is no different in that they did just about anything to maintain their access to Middle East oil. As a result, United States actions in the Middle East today has been formed through the decades long desire for their oil.