Saudi Arabia Joins the Arab Oil Embargo against the United States
1973–1974
Egypt and Syria attacked on 6 October 1973, seeking to recover territory occupied by Israel in 1967. The fighting soon drew large American and Soviet resupply efforts. [1] [2]
In October 1973, Saudi Arabia and other Arab oil producers restricted supplies to the United States after Washington began resupplying Israel during the Arab–Israeli war. They combined an embargo with production cuts to press the United States to change its diplomacy. [2]
Prices rose sharply, imposing higher costs on importing countries far beyond the conflict. The embargo intensified pressures already building in the oil market: producers had been challenging the pricing system, and American reliance on imported oil had grown. The war turned those pressures into a wider economic shock. [2]
Richard Nixon called for greater American energy independence while Henry Kissinger pursued Arab–Israeli negotiations and the removal of the embargo. An Egyptian–Israeli disengagement agreement followed in January 1974. The embargo ended in March, after months in which the governments’ disagreement over the war had disrupted the supply of oil without severing Saudi–American relations. [2]
Related Diplomats
Sources
- The 1973 Arab–Israeli War
Prewar diplomacy including Sadat–Kissinger channel; October 22–25 ceasefire negotiations and Soviet–American crisis
- Oil Embargo, 1973–1974 — Office of the Historian
Embargo, production restrictions, pricing context, American response, and March 1974 lifting
- Former Ambassadors
- Nixon–Fahd meeting, 6 June 1974
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Cite This Article
Saudi Arabia Joins the Arab Oil Embargo against the United States. Chanceries Diplopedia. Record ccf271603b245e2e89d7. https://chanceries.org/research/history/saudi-embargo-1973-d6a74b5b6e/