Oil prices didn't used to move like this?

Great quick video. I've had Claude provide some additional context below.

The chart covers 1950–1988 and tells a dramatic story in three acts:

The Long Sleep (1950–1972) — by the 1950s, the Seven Sisters controlled about 85% of the world's petroleum reserves MarketsWiki, and they used that control to keep posted prices almost perfectly flat — oil stayed around $1.80/barrel for over a decade. In real terms, the price was actually falling as inflation eroded it.

The Crumbling (1960–1973) — in 1959 the Seven Sisters reduced the price of oil for Venezuela and Middle Eastern producers, which provoked anger and prompted the initial steps to establish OPEC. Wikipedia A cascade of nationalizations followed: Iran in 1951 (briefly reversed), Iraq in 1972, Libya and Algeria in 1971. Between 1969 and 1973, changing geopolitical and economic conditions shifted the balance of power from the Seven Sisters to OPEC. Oxford Research Encyclopedias

The Earthquake (1973–1980) — the OPEC embargo quadrupled crude oil prices from $3 to $12 per barrel, triggering the first global energy crisis. Oilpriceapi Then the 1979 Iranian Revolution doubled prices again. Saudi Arabia fully nationalized Aramco by 1980, completing the expulsion. At the peak, inflation-adjusted prices hit roughly $113/barrel in today's money — levels not seen again until 2008.

The Aftermath — once OPEC changed policy and non-OPEC production rose in the mid-1980s, oil prices experienced a rapid decline Wikipedia, crashing back to ~$12 nominal by 1986. The Sisters were gone from the Middle East, but OPEC's own internal discipline problems meant the price windfall proved temporary.