from 45% in the mid-1970s to 28% by 1982. Gasoline use also fell as fuel standards forced fuel efficiencies up from 20 miles per gallon to almost 30 miles per gallon in 1978.
Oil prices fell 57% from $35 per barrel in 1981 to $15 by 1986 .
Then Boom ... Iraq invaded Kuwait. Iraq and Kuwait accounted for 9% of world oil production in 1990. The U.S. determined that Saudi Arabian oil supplies were at risk, and so President George H.W. Bush sent U.S. military forces to protect Saudi Arabia and its oilfields. Oil prices spiked. The U.S. released 34 million barrels of oil from its strategic oil reserve, and Operation Desert Storm was over in six months. And, of course, bust . Oil prices began to retreat as the threat diminished. Oil dropped from $40 per barrel in 1990 to less than $20 per barrel in 1991. The ninth post-war recession began in July 1990.
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