Starman

A brief history of oil prices. Approximate prices are for one barrel of crude oil on world markets, in 2006 U.S. dollars. During the past five years, total global consumption has totalled about 84 million barrels per day.

Mid-19th century: Modern oil era begins with wells in northwest Pennsylvania.

1861 - 1867: Wild price fluctuations in fragmented market, with prices ranging between 10 cents and $10.

1870: John D. Rockefeller and partners create Standard Oil Co., which achieves virtual monopoly over U.S. oil production by 1878.

1901: The Spindletop well in Texas, the world's biggest gusher, expands industry outside the U.S. Northeast, but production gluts market, and depresses prices, which had been about $1 a barrel.

1911: U.S. Supreme Court declares Standard Oil to be an "unreasonable" monopoly and orders it broken up into 34 independent companies. Average price $15-$20.

1908 - 1920: Mass production of Ford's Model T automobile creates rising demand for gasoline and subsequent higher oil prices, with a peak of about $30 in 1920.

1930s: Worldwide Great Depression depresses gasoline demand and oil glut reduces price to about $12.

1933: Texas' dominance over oil production enables the Texas Railroad Commission, the energy regulator in the U.S. southern states, to stabilize prices for decades.

1939 - 1945: Second World War brings U.S. government price controls, with oil prices at about $15.

1956: Britain, France and Israel attack Egypt in a bid to reverse its nationalization of the Suez Canal, the main source of supply of oil for Britain and France. Prices hit $19.

1960 - Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) formed by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, and quickly dominates the world oil market, producing greatly increased prices of about $16.

1973 - 1976: Price rises to as high as $46 after OPEC slaps oil embargo against the United States, its allies in Western Europe and Japan, which had supported Israel in its conflict with Syria and Egypt in the Yom Kippur War. OPEC also cuts production to maintain high prices.

1978: Revolution sweeps the Shah of Iran from power and installs a radical Islamic government in the major oil producer. Prices rise to $42.

1980-91: OPEC's power and oil prices decline in the face of conservation efforts in Western countries.

1980: Iraq invades revolution-weakened Iran. $86.

1982: U.S. imposes price controls on domestic oil. $68.

1986: Oil demand and price drops to as low as $13 after global economic recession batters demand for oil. Plunging prices depress Alberta's oilpatch, which was still reeling from the impact of the National Energy Program imposed by the Liberal government of former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.

1990: The United States and allies launch the Gulf War to expel Iraqi invaders from Kuwait. $28

1998 - 1999: A flooded market and an economic crisis in Asia knocks prices down to a 50-year low of about $15, until OPEC cuts its production, sparking another price increase.

2000 - Series of OPEC quota cuts leads to higher oil prices. $21.

2001 - Prices rise to about $26 following Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

2003 - U.S. invasion of Iraq sparks a continuing upward trend in oil prices, to an average $32 in 2004 and $60 in 2006.

2007 - Rose to more than $98 before settling back into the low to mid-90s because of worries that a U.S. recession would depress demand.

Jan. 2, 2008 - Prices rise above US$100 a barrel for the first time ever, reaching that milestone amid an unshakeable view that global demand for oil and petroleum products, especially from fast-growing China and India, will continue to outstrip supplies.