duction of oil was leveling off simultaneously. Until the early 1960s, the U.S. was essentially self-sufficient in petroleum, but by 1970 imported about one-fourth of its needs. In the same year, the U.S. consumed about 40 percent of the world's oil and 30 percent of its total energy output, making the shift in the American oil and energy situation alone a highly significant factor in the power buildup by OPEC. And the U.S. has not imported vast amounts of oil from OPEC; the main external suppliers have been non-OPEC nations Mexico and Canada, along with Venezuela, which does belong to the organization. But, because the United States is the single largest consumer of crude, its entry into the world oil market tightened the supply-demand situation. As a consequence, OPEC was in a position to exercise its new-found economic muscle as soon as some opportune moment arose.
In 1973, the Yom Kippur War broke out between Israel and her Arab neighbors. In response to American aid for Israel, the Arab me
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