Twenty-five years after the oil embargo by members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) shocked energy markets and created long lines for gasoline in the United States, U.S. dependence on imported oil is at an all-time high. Net imports provided 48 percent of domestic oil consumption in 1997, up from 28 percent in 1972 (see figure).

This development, the result of declining U.S. crude oil production and rising demand, is among 30 major energy trends detailed in 25th Anniversary of the 1973 Oil Embargo: Energy Trends Since the First Major U.S. Energy Crisis, recently released by the Energy Information Administration. Other important trends include the following:

• Encouraged by high oil prices, end-use consumers sought ways to conserve energy and switch to other fuels, driving down the import share of total consumption in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

• OPEC's share of world oil production, which stood at 55 percent in 1973, fell to as low as 30 percent in 1985. By 1997 it had recovered to 43 percent.

• The U.S. share of total world output of crude oil production fell from 52 percent in 1950 to 10 percent in 1997.

• Real U.S. motor gasoline prices peaked in 1981, fell to a low of $1.12 per gallon in 1988, and stood at $1.15 in 1997.

• The per-capita consumption of petroleum products declined between 1972 and 1997 at an annual average rate of 0.5 percent.

• U.S. crude oil reserves fell 31 percent between 1977 and 1997, to 22 billion barrels.

Contact:

John Pearson

john.pearson@eia.doe.gov

Phone: (202) 586-6162

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URL: http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/plugs/pl25yrs.html
File last modified: March 4, 2002