1980s oil glut

[2][3] The glut began in the early 1980s as a result of slowed economic activity in industrial countries due to the crises of the 1970s, especially in 1973 and 1979, and the energy conservation spurred by high fuel prices.

[2] During the 1980s, reliance on Middle East production dwindled as commercial exploration developed major non-OPEC oilfields in Siberia, Alaska, the North Sea, and the Gulf of Mexico,[11] and the Soviet Union became the world's largest producer of oil.

[12] Smaller non-OPEC producers including Brazil, Egypt, India, Malaysia, and Oman doubled their output between 1979 and 1985, to a total of 3 million barrels per day.

Carter's successor, Ronald Reagan, signed an executive order on 28 January 1981, which enacted that reform immediately,[14] allowing the free market to adjust oil prices in the United States.

[16] Phillips Petroleum discovered oil in the Chalk Group at Ekofisk, in Norwegian waters in the central North Sea.

In September 1985, Saudi Arabia became unhappy with de facto propping up prices by lowering its own production in the face of high output from elsewhere in OPEC.

[citation needed] Iraq had fought a long and costly war against Iran and had particularly weak revenues.

It was upset by Kuwait contributing to the glut[30] and allegedly pumping oil from the Rumaila field below their common border.

[31] Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990, planning to increase reserves and revenues and cancel the debt, resulting in the first Gulf War.

After the 1988 October Riots he reformed the constitution twice, liberalized the political space amid growing discontent, and was ousted from office by the military after his party lost the first multi-party elections to Islamists.

[33][34] In the United States, domestic exploration and the number of active drilling rigs were cut dramatically.