Jump to a Specific Year
1980
Mar 1 Windfall Profits Tax enacted.
May Saudi Light raised to $28.00 per barrel, retroactive to April 1.
Apr-Sep Buy-Sell Program allocations drop to average of 120,000 B/D for period April to September 1980.
Sep 17 Iraq breaks 1975 treaty with Iran and proclaims sovereignty over Shatt al-Arab waterway.
Sep 23 Iraq invades Iran. Mutual bombing of installations.
Nov 10 Iraq captures southern port of Khorramshahr.
Nov 20-24 U.N. gulf war mediator Olaf Palme makes first unsuccessful peace shuttle between Tehran and Baghdad.
Dec Collapse of OPEC's pricing structure. Saudis use $32 per barrel marker, others use $36 per barrel benchmark.
1981
Saudis flood market with inexpensive oil in 1981, forcing unprecedented price cuts by OPEC members. In October, all 13 OPEC members align on a compromise $32 per barrel benchmark. Later, benchmark price is maintained, but differentials are adjusted.
Jan Iraq repels first major Iranian offensive.
Jan 28 President Reagan lifts remaining domestic petroleum price and allocation controls originally scheduled to expire in September 1981.
Apr After meetings in Baghdad and Teheran, attempts by nine Islamic Conference leaders to mediate peace between Iraq and Iran fail.
Aug Windfall profits tax reduced.
Sep 27-28 Iran defends its besieged port of Abadan, driving back Iraqi forces.
Oct OPEC reaches an agreement to unify crude price at $32 per barrel through 1982 and sets an ultimate price ceiling of $38 per barrel.
Nov 29 Major Iranian offensive mounted on central front.
1982
Indications of a world o il glut lead to a rapid decline in world oil prices early in 1982. OPEC appears to lose control over world oil prices.
Mar Damascus closes Iraq's 400,000 bbl/d trans-Syrian oil export pipeline to show support for Iran.
Mar 11 U.S. boycotts Libyan crude.
May 24 Iran recaptures Khorramshahr.
Jun Iran demands $150 billion in war reparations; pledges war until Iraq's Hussein stands trial.
Jun 10 Iraq declares unilateral cease-fire.
Jul 13 Iran launches first attack into Iraq.
1983
Oil glut takes hold. Demand falls as a result of conservation, use of other fuels and recession. OPEC agrees to limit overall output to 17.5 MMB/D. OPEC agrees to individual output quotas and cuts prices by $5 to $29 per barrel.
Apr Iraq increases missile attacks on Iran.
Jul 20-30 Iran moves into northern Iraq. Casualties top 13,800 in ten days.
Jul 26 U.S. threatens action to preserve navigation in Persian Gulf.
Jul-Aug Heavy fighting and casualties in Iran-Iraq war.
Oct Iran attacks northern Iraq, threatening Kirkuk pipeline.
1984
Feb-Mar Iran captures Najnoon Islands.
Mar 27 Beginning of "tanker war." Over the next nine months, 44 ships, including Iranian, Iraqi, Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti tankers, are attacked by Iraqi or Iranian warplanes or damaged by mines.
Mar-Jun Iran mobilizes 500,000 troops to southern front. No offensive materializes.
May 26 President Reagan rules out U.S. military intervention.
Jun Civilian target truce in Iran-Iraq war.
Oct Norway and Britain cut prices in response to falling spot market. Nigeria follows, renewing pressure on OPEC price cuts.
Oct 17 OPEC cuts production to 16 MMB/D, but agreement is negated by cheating and price-discounting.
1985
Jan Nine OPEC members adjust prices to cut gap between light and heavy crudes from $4 to $2.40 per barrel. Saudi light price cut one dollar to $28 per barrel.
Mar 11-19 Iranian offensive; heavy casualties.
May-Jun "Battle of the cities" - heavy bombing from both Iran and Iraq.
Jun OPEC output falls to 20-year low of 13.7 MMB/D.
Jun Iran begins hit-and-run raids on Iraq.
Jul OPEC loses customers to cheaper North Sea oil. More OPEC price cuts.
Aug Saudi Arabia links prices to spot market. Output rises from 2 MMB/D in August to 5 MMB/D in early 1986.
Aug 15 First Iraqi air raid on Iran's main oil export terminal, Kharg Island.
Nov 6 Exploratory well in Ranger, Texas, blows out, spilling 150,000 BBLS of crude oil.
Dec OPEC output hits 18 MMB/D boosting a glut and triggering a price war.
1986
Average world oil prices fall by over 50 percent in 1986. There is wide use of netback pricing in 1986.
Feb 3-4 OPEC fails to agree upon a production accord after a two-day meeting in Vienna.
Feb Iran captures southern Faw peninsula, starts northern offensive.
May 7 Iraq bombs Tehran refinery.
Jun OPEC production-cut talks fail, ending in a tentative majority pact on an average 1986 ceiling of 17.6 MMB/D.
Jun 8 Iraqi jets attack Assadabad satellite station.
Jul Brent price dips under $9 per barrel. OPEC production rises to 20 MMB/D.
Jul 27 Iraqi jets attack central Iranian city of Arak. Iran threatens missile attack of gulf states supporting Iraq.
Aug 2 Hussein offers peace in open letter to Iran.
Aug 4 Reports of probable OPEC agreement on output quotas sends oil prices higher.
Aug 12 Iran fires missile at refinery near Baghdad. Iraq raids Iranian terminal at Sirri Island severely disrupting Iranian exports.
Dec 19 OPEC reaches an accord that would cut production by seven percent for the first six months of 1987 (from 17 MMB/D to 16 MMB/D) and would raise prices immediately toward a target world oil price of $18 per barrel.
1987
Jan OPEC price accord begins to deteriorate.
Feb OPEC majors stick to fixed prices.
Jun-AugGulf war escalates.
Dec OPEC meeting failure.
1988
Wide use of crude formula pricing in 1988.
Feb OPEC price meeting set.
Mar OPEC/Non-OPEC meeting failure.
Jul Iran accepts cease fire.
Oct 14 Crude oil prices jump in anticipation of possible production accord at Gulf Cooperation Council meeting set for October 16.
Nov 28 OPEC reaches production accord. Six-month agreement to set production at 18.5 MMB/D. Although the recent OPEC quota had been 19.0 MMB/D, actual OPEC production had been closer to 21.0 MMB/D.
Dec Fulmar/Brent outages.
1989
Mar Exxon tanker Valdez runs aground, spilling 11 million gallons of crude oil in the waters of Price William Sound. Oil prices react upward to news of the spill and to potential shortages on the west coast cased by refinery fires there.
June OPEC raises their production ceiling to 19.5 MMB/D.
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