OPEC cuts production

The Arab-dominated Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agrees to cut oil exports by 5 percent until Israel withdraws from territories occupied in the Yom Kippur War. Failing to achieve that result, Saudi Arabia and several other nations cut oil production more dramatically. They imposed a total oil embargo against the United States and the Netherlands in retaliation for their military support of Israel. The embargo caused a major energy crisis in the United States and Europe, which included price gouging, gas shortages, and rationing. OPEC cut production several more times in the 1970s, and by 1980 the price of crude oil was 10 times what it had been in 1973.