Daniel Yergin

Remember that six out of seven barrels of oil that were used by the allies during World War II, six out of seven of them came from the United States.

So, but after World War I, you had these fears of running out.

And so that was one reason the US government supported American companies beginning to go into the Middle East because governments recognize you needed oil.

The U.S.

had been this huge supplier.

But after World War II, we had economic growth.

We had highway systems.

We had the suburbs.

Oil demand is going way up.

And we outrun production.

So the U.S.

becomes, in 1946, 47, 48, an importer of oil.

but modest amounts.

But then as we go into the late 60s, you have this global economic boom and Japan is suddenly a vibrant economy.

Europe has recovered a vibrant economy and oil demand is shooting up really rapidly.

And the markets that were quite amply supplied become very tight.

And I think that in the United States, people didn't realize that we were becoming the world's largest importer of oil.

They just weren't paying attention to that.

And it was thought, well, there are only limits to what we can do as a country anyway.

And then there were, when we finally get to the crisis, the famous oil crisis of 1973, which probably opened the modern age of energy,