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 caption dated May 17, 1979 reads, "The only vehicle with enough clout to risk it - the gasoline tanker - cuts through a queue of cars at station on Sunset Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue." Additional photograph caption dated May 15, 1988 reads, "Suppliers barely met demand as drivers lined up at pumps." A little ways down the line a handmade sign on a street pole reads, "ARCO no super." A Thrifty Drug store is visible in the background.
Type
Image
Format
1 photographic print : b&w ; 31 x 16.5 cm. Photographic prints
Atlantic Richfield Co Thrifty Drug Stores, Inc Service stations Gas companies Tank trucks Dodge automobile Automobile drivers Automobiles Price marks Streets Street signs Street lights Hollywood (Los Angeles, Calif.)
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