The OPEC Oil Embargo at 40
The OPEC Oil Embargo at 40 / Jules Kortenhorst, CEO of Rocky Mountain Institute, Project Syndicate, 8/11/2013
Forty years ago, the United States and much of Europe learned difficult lessons about their dangerous addiction to fossil fuels. Following Israel’s victory in the Yom Kippur War, the Arab members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced an oil embargo on Israel’s supporters. Developed countries, faced with the sudden cutoff of a key energy source and a major spike in world oil prices, felt powerless…