ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

1990–1999 world oil market chronology

Okay kiddo, so in the 1990s, a lot of things happened in the world of oil. Oil is a very important resource that we use to power cars, planes, and many other things.

At the beginning of the 90s, the world's biggest oil producers, called OPEC, had a lot of power. They could control the amount of oil they sold and how much they charged for it. But in 1990, something big happened. Iraq, which is a country that produces a lot of oil, invaded another country called Kuwait.

This made the other countries in the world really scared and worried about what would happen to the oil supply. They thought there might be a shortage of oil, which could make things like gas for cars really expensive. So a group of countries got together and decided to use their own oil reserves to make up for any shortage. This helped keep the price of oil stable, but it also meant that these countries were using up their own oil resources to help others.

Another thing that happened during the 90s was that new oil discoveries were made in places like Russia and the Caspian Sea. This meant that there was more oil available, which helped keep prices down.

But then something else big happened in 1998. There was an economic crisis in Asia, which caused the demand for oil to go down. When demand goes down, prices can drop too. And that's what happened -- the price of oil fell really low, which hurt a lot of countries that depended on selling oil to make money.

Overall, the 1990s were a time of ups and downs in the world of oil. There were some scary moments, like when Iraq invaded Kuwait, but there were also some good moments, like when new oil was discovered. And through it all, countries had to work together to make sure there was enough oil for everyone who needed it.