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• The 1973 Arab Oil Embargo was the first oil supply disruption to cause major price increases and a worldwide energy crisis.
• In Fifteen years during the last half of the 20th century major disruptions in world oil supplies have occurred. Six of those instances decreased the world oil supply by at least 2 million barrels per day (see illustration above).
• In 1950, the United States provided 52 percent of the world's crude oil production; by 1997 that figure had dropped to 10 percent.
• Virtually all spare oil production capacity was in the Middle East when the Arab Oil Embargo began in October 1973.
• Supply disruptions increased in severity as world oil production increased and production shifted to less secure areas of the Middle East.

Source: Energy Information Administration, Interagency Database and Projections Working Group.