First Published in 2011. This book presents the results of the third phase of our analysis of U.S. oil imports in relation to U.S. energy policy. It presents a definitive history and analysis of the United States' experiment with formal oil import controls and addresses three questions: The first is how the U.S. energy situation, especially energy security, was affected by what was going on in the rest of the world. The second is the more narrow issue of what energy security options appeared available to the United States from the perspective of the special conditions which existed during 1974-75. The third question, the main subject of this book, and the one with which we initially began, was what lessons might be learned from earlier efforts to limit imports, especially through the Mandatory Oil Import Program.

The author uses microeconomic market analysis to study the U.S. oil import policy which was developed during the nineteen fifties and the early sixties to resolve the conflict between domestic producers and those petroleum companies which had extensive foreign crude oil reserves.