Part 5, Chapter 36 Summary

How long oil's precarious price could be balanced was a major uncertainty in the mid-1980s. The powerful allure of higher prices was great in the established exporters and in a Soviet Union desperate for hard currency. Low prices were desirable to the importers, led by Germany and Japan. The U.S. had interests on both sides of the divide; how it lined up would determine the future course. OPEC's 1984 quota system was not working. Non-OPEC production, the shift to other forms of power, and outright conservation were shrinking markets and dwindling countries' revenues. Quota cheating became widespread as countries made up their losses on price with volume. OPEC hired an international accounting firm to police the quota, to little effect; some countries were able to get around quotas through direct barter for weapons systems and industrial goods, increasing the world...