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Difficulties
In the years leading up to the 1973 war, the international oil sector had
undergone structural shifts against the background of a world-wide increase
in the demand for oil. 1 Oil production had also increased hugely,
not least in the Arab countries. Between 1950 and 1973, oil extraction in
the Middle East increased fourteen-fold. 2 Western Europe and Japan in
particular had become increasingly dependent on Arab oil.
The West European countries had become to a significant degree dependent
on oil imports for both their energy production and their petrochemical
industries. In 1955, coal was still the most important energy
source in Western Europe (75%), whereas in 1972 this share had fallen to
23%. In contrast, oil had risen from 22% to 60% of the total energy supply.
In 1955, 78% of all West European energy needs were met from within
Western Europe, whereas in 1972 this figure had been drastically reduced
to 35%. Energy imports had correspondingly risen from 22% to
65%. 3
The dependence on Arab oil imports, as a percentage of total energy
requirements, rose in Western Europe from 13.4% in 1956 to 36% in
1967 and 45% in 1973. This in turn had considerable consequences for
the status of the oil-producing countries of the Middle East, particularly
Saudi Arabia, whose share in the world’s oil production rose from 13% in
1970 to 21% in 1973. This development made Saudi Arabia one of the
most important political players in the Middle East. 4
Even in the usa, long self-sufficient in oil, scarcity began to make itself
felt on the oil market. The oil-producing areas in the usa could no longer
satisfy the ever-increasing demand, with the result that oil imports grew
throughout the 1960s at an average rate of 6% – rising to some 20% after
1970. The squandering of reserves and increasing consumption meant
that the usa had become a net importer of oil. Although American de-
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