Reflections on Rising Oil Prices
Article from: OGEL 3 (2005), in Economic and Commercial Context for Oil, Gas and Energy Law
Introduction
The mid-1970s to early-1980s are a time of fond remembrance in the oil industry - a demand-side boom of high oil prices. But the real supply-side oil boom took place earlier, during the quarter-century from the end of World War II to the early 1970s.
In the decades following WWII, population growth and economic growth sparked rapidly increasing demand for energy from cheap, clean, convenient oil. Oil exploration forged ahead using new technologies, and global discoveries grew, reaching a peak in the 1960s. Oil production grew strongly.