The 1979 Oil Crisis was an energy crisis characterized by a precipitous drop in oil production for the second time in the 1970s (the first being in 1973). In the wake of the Iranian Revolution, 37,000 Iranian oil refinery employees went on strike in 1978, causing Iran's oil refineries to go from producing 6 million barrels per day to 1.5 million barrels per day. The global oil supply decreased by 7 percent, causing a surge in oil pricing and within 12 months oil markets had doubled to $39.50 per barrel. This surge caused major gas shortages, long gas lines, and panic buying. In the United States, the Jimmy Carter administration began a phased deregulation of oil prices on April 5, 1979, which allowed U.S. oil output to rise sharply from the Prudhoe Bay fields in Alaska, while oil imports fell sharply. It wasn't until the mid-1980s that oil prices returned to pre-crisis levels. Photograph snipe dated May 4, 1979 reads, "Last car in line at Olympic and Hope gas station has sign giving bad news to other gas-hunters. Sign was placed by station attendant." Standard Oil split into 34 smaller companies in 1911 due to the dissolution of the oil trust. Chevron, among other companies (Marathon Petroleum, ExxonMobil and Amoco.) became its successor. The Standard Oil station pictured in the photograph was later replaced by the Renaissance Tower Apartments.
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print : b&w ; 32.5 x 20.5 cm. Photographic prints
Standard Oil Company Chevron Corporation Service stations Gas companies Lost architecture Datsun automobile Automobile drivers Automobiles Streets Street signs Women Men Los Angeles (Calif.)
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