This article examines the historical emergence of the Middle East oil-pricing system. The collapse of the Gulf-plus system, combined with outstanding discoveries of new reservoirs across the Arabian Peninsula and Persia, awoke latent competitive forces within the oligopolistic oil economy. After World War II, business differences regarding global vertical integration, market priorities, and Western-Eastern hemisphere competition heightened fractures among the seven multinational oil companies generally referred to as “the seven sisters.” The conclusions underscore the role of deviations from dominant collusive behavior among the “fringe” companies Texaco, Standard of California–Chevron, and Gulf Oil in prompting new price equilibriums for Persian Gulf crude oil.

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Cartel,Oil prices,Middle East,Oil companies

• Economics and Business - Social Sciences
• History and Archeology - Humanities