1980's

1980 Oil Glut

During the 1973 oil embargo, OPEC quadrupled its oil prices. Amid the crisis OPEC lost its market share in oil to countries like Russia and Mexico, so when it tried to re-enter into the oil market in March of 1974, America was buying oil from other places like Russia and Mexico. In an effort to regain their pre- 1973 share of the oil market , OPEC decided to lower oil prices by producing more oil. This is the first time OPEC tried lowering the oil price, but they still couldn't get the same market share that they had before 1973, so they continued lowering the price. Therefore OPEC member countries were now losing both revenue and unity.