Standard Oil In The Middle East

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At this point, the world had never seen an oil shortage, but one was soon approaching the oil industry. Standard Oil in the United States needed new ways of getting oil and had to look out of the country to do so. They sent Walter Teagle to look in the Middle East for oil where they ran into Calouste Gulbenkian who became an ultimate problem. Gulbenkian was granted rights to the oil prospects in Mesopotamia, which is now Iraq, by the Turkish Empire who controlled the Middle East. In 1914, they declared that if oil was ever found on that ground he would be granted money. The oil in the Middle East was sought by many countries including Germany, Britain, and the United States. Gulbenkian’s father was an agent for Standard Oil and his family history…show more content…
Walter Teagle recognized that oil was one of the most important factors in winning the war besides ammunition. Cars were becoming wildly popular after the war when they became cheaper and could be used more often and increased the demand for oil. In 1919, the army sent a band of caravans out to San Francisco in an effort to show a need for more highways. More cars meant they needed more roads, and when the efforts proved to be right more roads were built which led to more gas being needed. The supply of future oil in the United States was in question for the first time. Teagle took over and began to look overseas for more oil. Teagle was born into oil. His mother’s side of the family had ties to Rockefeller and his father had his own oil business until Standard Oil bought it out. He was filling Rockefeller’s shoes, and at the age of 39 became president of Standard Oil. Known as “The Boss” Teagle was in charge of one of the worlds largest oil empires. There came a problem when they had no crude oil supply which made the company vulnerable. Teagle passed a law stating that Standard Oil was to be interested in every oil producing area no matter what country it was in. This led Teagle to Iraq in which he would have to deal with…show more content…
Oil boom towns became a way of life and boomers moved from one boom town to the next to make a living. Throughout the 1920’s cars were very popular and cheap gas made that possible. Cars made a massive boost in gasoline production and the United States were producing more gas then ever before. Too much oil began to threaten price stability and the success of oil companies despite the growing demand for oil. Teagle attended a secret meeting in Scotland with many other influential men in the oil field from around the world. The oversupply of oil was not just in the United States but also world wide. This secret meeting was made to divide the markets and share facilities to eliminate competition and promote efficiency. They basically wanted to control the prices and quantity of oil to stabilize the industry. This is ironic because the Red Line Agreement was signed because the world was running out of oil, but the meeting in Scotland was because the world had a continuous increase in an oversupply of

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