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Section III (Peace and Conflict): Conflict in the Gulf 1980-2011
Quick questions on Role of oil and OPEC: HSC Modern History Conflict in the Gulf
12short Q&A pairs drawn directly from our worked dot-point answer. For full context and worked exam questions, read the parent dot-point page.
What is the strategic context?Show answer
The Gulf contains the largest concentration of conventional oil reserves on earth. Proven reserves in 2010: Saudi Arabia 264 billion barrels (around 19 per cent of world), Iran 137 billion (10 per cent), Iraq 115 billion (8 per cent), Kuwait 102 billion (7 per cent), UAE 98 billion (7 per cent). The Gulf six together hold around 60 per cent of proven conventional reserves.
What is oPEC and the price wars?Show answer
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), founded in Baghdad in 1960, regulated production quotas among the major exporters.
What is the Carter Doctrine and CENTCOM?Show answer
President Jimmy Carter's State of the Union address on 23 January 1980 responded to the Iranian Revolution and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan with the declaration that became the Carter Doctrine:
What is the Iran-Iraq War and oil infrastructure?Show answer
The 1980-88 war made oil infrastructure a central target. Iraqi exports through the Gulf were closed by Iranian naval action. Iraq's only export route became the Kirkuk-Ceyhan pipeline through Turkey.
What is operation Earnest Will?Show answer
Kuwait requested US protection in late 1986. The Reagan administration agreed to reflag 11 Kuwaiti tankers as American vessels. Operation Earnest Will (24 July 1987 to September 1988) provided US Navy convoy protection.
What is the 1990 invasion of Kuwait?Show answer
Oil was the proximate cause of the 1990 invasion. Iraq's grievances: - Kuwaiti debts of around 14 billion US dollars from the Iran-Iraq War. - Kuwaiti over-production driving prices below Iraq's break-even. - Alleged Kuwaiti slant drilling at the Rumaila field.
What is the burning of Kuwaiti oil fields?Show answer
As Iraqi forces withdrew under Coalition attack in late February 1991, they implemented "scorched earth": setting fire to 605 of Kuwait's 749 producing oil wells. At peak around 6 million barrels per day burned.
What is oil-for-Food?Show answer
UN sanctions cut Iraqi oil exports from 1990 to 1996. The Oil-for-Food Programme (UNSCR 986, 14 April 1995) allowed limited exports through a UN-controlled escrow account.
What is the 2003 war and oil?Show answer
Whether oil was a motive for the 2003 invasion is contested.
What is historiography?Show answer
Daniel Yergin (The Prize, 1991; The Quest, 2011) is the standard oil history.
What is forgetting the Kuwaiti fires?Show answer
The 605 burning wells were the largest single environmental crime of the period.
What is confusing OPEC and the Gulf states?Show answer
OPEC includes Venezuela, Nigeria, Algeria; Gulf OPEC members are six.