The Discovery Of Oil During Middle East

The discovery of oil in Middle East in the late nineteenth century added a critical dimension to the region as major outside state powers employed military force to protect their newly acquired interests in the Middle East. The United States efforts to secure the flow of oil have led to their ever-increasing involvement in the Middle East’s political affairs and ongoing power struggles. By the end of the twentieth century, safeguarding the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf had become one of the most important functions of the U.S. military. The close relationship between the United States and the Saudi royal family was formed in the final months of World War II, when U.S. leaders sought to ensure preferential access to Saudi’s petroleum. The U.S. link with Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region has demonstrated to be greatly beneficial to both parties, yet it has also led to ever deepening U.S. involvement in regional politics.

Despite that the United States is currently the greatest producer of petroleum, supplying approximately 14 million barrels per day, they retain presence in the Middle East as part of their national interest to maintain strategic power over the trade route and influence in the energy-rich region while strengthening their alliances.

Initially and primarily the US’s influence in the Middle East was to prevent a hostile power from gaining control over a vital resource. With the outbreak of the 1973 Arab-Israeli conflict, the perception of oil as a strategic commodity surfaced. The Arab states cut off all petroleum deliveries to the United States and forming cutbacks to other countries. At the same time, the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC) announced a rapid increase in the pr...

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... will continue to use a variety of means to promote regional security and stability [in the Gulf], working with our friends and allies,”. But it “will remain prepared to defend vital U.S. interests in the region— unilaterally if necessary ”.

The United States has steadily expanded its military presence in the Middle East. In ordering deployments, American officials have demonstrated the United States intentions: the US will not permit a hostile state to acquire the ability to obstruct the free flow of oil from the Gulf to major markets in the West.

It is for this true reason that the US remains in the Middle East. They wish to exercise control in the region, to not simply restore peace in a concentrated conflict zone, but rather to protect their national interests of maintaining their alliances in the Middle East to ensure the trade routes of oil remain in tact.