Demand for domestic oil was growing, too, as the U.S. quickly transformed into a mobile society. President Eisenhower pushed the Interstate highway system linking major cities with high-capacity roadways. This spurred the transport of goods and supplies by truck. Auto sales grew from 26 million cars in 1946 to 40 million by the early 1950s. And oil consumption exploded in a post-war boom. In the 1960s and 1970s, transportation accounted for 70% of oil consumption in the U.S. By that time, U.S. reliance on oil had grown so much that it went from being a net exporter of oil (in 1945) to importing one third of its oil demand from emerging global oil supplier Saudi Arabia… Bust.
Starting in 1956, oil prices began a gradual decline…
That year, Egypt seized the Suez Canal. That disruption took 10% of world oil off the market. But oil was so plentiful, prices were barely affected.
Concerned with low oil prices, the Arab nations created the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1960. The
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