type:text

The purpose of this article is to clarify the production and purchase of crude oil carried out by Exxon Corporation, now Exxon Mobil Corporation, in the 1970s. The main conclusions are the following:(1) Exxon almost lost its control over oil fields in the Middle East, Venezuela, and other areas by the end of the 1970s. In the case of Saudi Arabia, although Exxon was forced to transfer the right to produce crude oil and its ownership of various assets to the government of Saudi Arabia, it was allowed to purchase a lot of oil from the government. A production strategy designed by Exxon and other companies which jointly ran the Arabian American Oil Company brought about a rapid growth of the volume of crude oil. As a result, oil produced in Saudi Arabia enabled Exxon to fulfill a large demand in its markets in Western Europe and other regions.(2) Alaska in the United States and the European North Sea have been included in crude oil production spheres of Exxon since the 1970s. However, because of a large market shortage for Alaska oil, the company hesitated to develop the oil field on a large scale until the middle of the 1970s. When the price of oil imported into the United States soared rapidly in the late 1970s, Alaska oil gained an advantage. As a result, Exxon was able to replace foreign oil with a relatively cheap Alaska one in its refinery, and sell the oil aggressively to other companies. A large amount of production satisfying a growing demand made Alaska the main domestic oil region of Exxon.(3) The location of North Sea oil fields was very favorable to Exxon because Western Europe has been its main market in the world since the early 1960s. Crude oil was mostly produced in the British North Sea where Exxon and Royal Dutch/Shell owned a joint venture that executed operation for both parent companies. The production result seemed to fall short of Exxon’s expectation in the end of the 1970s. The main obstacle to increasing production was a large amount of natural gas which appeared together with the crude oil and which was difficult to deal with. The problem was eventually solved by the first half of the 1980s, and the North Sea began to play an important part in providing refineries belonging to Exxon with crude oil.

Ⅰ はじめにⅡ サウジ・アラビアⅢ アラスカ(アメリカ)Ⅳ 北海(ヨーロッパ)Ⅴ おわりに