- During the Iranian Revolution, oil output from the Middle East declined.
- The demand for oil increased globally, and oil prices skyrocketed.
- The United States put conservation policies in place.
- The demand for oil decreased, and oil prices declined sharply.
In January 1979, concurrently with the Iranian Revolution, oil produced in Iran declined by 4.8 million barrels a day (1). Iran cut back its oil supply into the international market.
This put a substantial strain on the international oil market: there was now a lot less oil to fulfill the demand on the global market, and the prices shot up (2). Indeed, at the end of the year, prices had doubled compared with before the Iranian Revolution.
In order to stop cutting their barrel purchases and paying increasing amounts for them, the U.S. needed to be less reliant on foreign (Iranian) oil and to conserve energy in better ways. An example was the deregulation of domestic oil price controls, which helped the U.S. rely on its own oil output and reduce imports (3).
Because of 1979's sharp increase in oil prices and the new economic crisis in the world in the early 1980s, oil demand had decreased by 10% by 1983. This caused the prices to sink (4) all the way down to 40% of their 1981 price by 1985.
