The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power

by Daniel Yergin

The impact of the strikes was felt immediately. Iran was the second-largest exporter of oil after Saudi Arabia. Of the upwards of 5.5 million barrels produced daily in Iran, about 4.5 million were exported; the rest were consumed internally. By early November, exports had been reduced to less than a million barrels per day, and thirty tankers were waiting in line at the loading facilities at Kharg Island for oil that was not there at a time when, in the international market, the winter demand surge was beginning. Petroleum companies, responding to the general softness in the market, had been letting their inventories fall. Would there be a shortage on the world market? Moreover, the stability of Iran itself depended upon oil revenues; they were the basis of the country’s entire economy. The head of the National Iranian Oil Company went south to The Fields to seek a dialogue with the striking oil workers—or so he thought. When he got there, he was mobbed by angry strikers. He immediately decided to forgo negotiations and instead fled the country. There seemed to be no way to end the strike.