1980–89 world oil market chronology

Okay kiddo, so back in the 1980s, the world was using a lot of oil to power cars, trucks, planes, and other machines. But there wasn't enough oil to go around, so some countries that had a lot of oil started to sell it for more money. This made the price of oil go up for everyone else, which was not good news.

Then in 1980, there was a big war between Iran and Iraq, which are both countries that had a lot of oil. This made the oil supply even tighter, so the price of oil went up even more. People were starting to panic because it was getting really expensive to fill up their cars and heat their homes.

But then something interesting happened. The United States and other countries that didn't have a lot of oil started to look for other ways to power their machines. They started using more natural gas, coal, and even renewable energy like solar and wind power. This made them less dependent on oil and helped to bring the price down a little bit.

However, some countries like Saudi Arabia and other members of OPEC (which stands for the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) were still controlling the oil supply and trying to keep the price high. They even cut back on how much oil they were producing to try to make it even more expensive.

But eventually, all of these factors started to balance out, and the price of oil went down a bit by the end of the decade. People could afford to use more gas and oil again, but they also knew that they needed to find other ways to power their lives so they wouldn't be so vulnerable to changes in the oil market. And that, my young friend, is the story of the 1980-89 world oil market chronology.