BEIJING, Jan. 3 (Xinhua) -- Crude oil futures set a record close Wednesday, the first trading day of 2008, after briefly hit 100 U.S. dollars a barrel on concerns of tight supply and weak U.S. dollar.
The following is a brief introduction to the turbulent history of the international oil market since World War II:
The United States had been dominating the international oil market for nearly a century since the birth of the modern oil industry. After the World War II, oil production in the Middle East was remarkably boosted and the region replaced the United States as the world oil production center.
International oil prices were stable and low in the years following the end of the Second World War, registering at 1.05 dollars per barrel in 1945 and 1.90 dollars per barrel in 1960.
In the early 1970s, oil-producing countries in the Middle East began to assert power and finally put an end to the western monopoly in setting oil prices. They also raised tax rate on western oil companies operating in the region. Consequently the crude oil price rose to 3 dollars per barrel.
In 1973, oil producers in the Middle East reduced production and installed export bans against several countries including the United States after the breakout of the Fourth Middle East War in October.
Oil prices rose from three dollars per barrels to 11 dollars within three months, triggering the first oil crisis and finally leading to the most severe world economic recession since the end of WWII.
In 1974, the United States and several other rich countries established the International Energy Agency (IEA), aiming to coordinate measures in times of oil supply emergencies and setting a strategic oil reserve system.
Oil prices hiked to 34 dollars per barrel at the end of 1978, when Iran's daily oil production plummeted from 5.8 million barrels to 1 million barrels in the wake of the Iranian Revolution.
In 1980, oil prices crossed the 38-dollar-per-barrel threshold as a war broke out between Iraq and Iran, thus came the second oil crisis and western countries plunged into a fresh economic recession.
High oil price forced major energy consuming countries to diversify their use of energy, to promote efficiency of energy consumption, and to establish the strategic oil reserve. Stimulated by the high price, oil production in oil-producing regions had been increasing rapidly. All these contributed to a surplus of oil supply on the international oil market.
In 1982, in order to defend the oil price, OPEC started to impose production quota on every production country. However, the measure stimulated OPEC members to fight for more market shares using price as a weapon, which directly led to a slump of oil price in the second quarter of 1986 to just six to seven dollars per barrel.
In August 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. The U.S.-led multinational forces launched the Gulf war and drove Iraqi army back to its country. During the war period, the international oil price rose to 40 dollars per barrel. But in January 1991, oil price plummeted again. Compared to the previous two oil crises, the short price surge this time posed far less influence on world economy.
The outburst of Asia financial crisis in 1997 gave OPEC a false impression of increasing production, ending in a price plunge again. In early 1998, oil price plummeted below 12 dollars per barrel, and further dip under the 10-dollar threshold at the end of that year.
OPEC reached a new production-cut pact in March 1999, and international oil price later started to rebound. In March 2000, price reached 34 dollars per barrel. In 2003, Iraq war broke out, further pushing the international oil price to a new high.
Since 2004, thanks to the strong demand of oil, active speculation in the international market, the depreciation of U.S. dollar, and turbulent situations in major oil-producing regions, oil prices kept surging without bound. On Jan. 2, 2008, the price soared over 100 dollars per barrel, creating a new high.
