A Study On U.S. Foreign Petroleum Policy (1944-1954)

The United States is one of the earliest countries in the world that have establishedpetroleum companies, engaged in large-scale commercial development and exploitedpetroleum. As the main fuel for mechanized units, petroleum is widely used in theautomobiles, aircrafts, vessels and tanks forces and brings their roles to full play. After theWorld War I, the United States began to support their major petroleum companies to launch amore powerful exploration campaign to find new petroleum resources in the Middle East andSouth America. On July31,1928, the United States singed the Red Line Agreement withBritain, France and Dutch, thus gained the equal right of exploring the petroleum resources inthe Middle East.The highly mechanized operations during the World War II made the petroleum becomea key factor which decided the process and outcome of war. The United States recognized thepetroleum interests as the core of its national security. The United States believed that it wasnecessary to control and explore the new foreign petroleum resources in order to reduce theloss of its domestic resources and guarantee the future supply. On April11,1944, the U.S.State Department announced the report “Foreign Petroleum Policy of the United States”.According to this report, the "equal access" clause of the Atlantic Charter should beimplemented in respect of petroleum, and Hemisphere petroleum policy should be adopted inthe foreign petroleum policy with Eastern Hemisphere petroleum supply from the Middle Eastand Western Hemisphere petroleum supply from the Americas. The goal of U.S. foreignpetroleum policy is to seize and control the petroleum resources of the Middle East andprotect the U.S. domestic petroleum reserves.The report “Foreign Petroleum Policy of the United States” is the programmaticdocument to guide the formulation and implementation of postwar foreign petroleum policy.With its powerful military and economic strength, the United States gradually expand thescale of petroleum exploitation in the Middle East, replacing the British petroleum hegemonyin the Middle East. As the Cold War in full swing, the United States has been firmly adheringto the Hemisphere petroleum policy that means the eastern supply from the east and thewestern supply from the west. The United States aimed at using the Middle East petroleumresources to provide energy support for European allies while the petroleum resources in theUnited States and Latin America are protected for the needs of the Western Hemisphere andthe future war.A comprehensive study of the formulation and implementation of U.S. foreign petroleum policy (1944-1954) is helpful to reveal the essence of postwar foreign petroleum policy of theUnited States, and completely understand its construction for the new petroleum order afterthe World War II.The thesis is divided into four chapters in addition to the preface and afterwards.The first chapter analyzes the origins and background of the U.S. foreign petroleumpolicy, introduces the rise and development of the world petroleum industries during the early20th century. I also trace the beginning of U.S. Navy’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve policyand explore the relationship between the two world wars and the wartime petroleum policy ofthe United States.Chapter2focuses primarily on the background and main content of the U.S. foreignpetroleum policy during the end of World War II. The goal of U.S. foreign petroleum policyis to apply the principle of "equal opportunity" of Atlantic Charter to the competition overforeign petroleum resources, to grab and control the petroleum resources of the Middle East,and to protect the U.S. domestic petroleum resources in reserve. As the main content of itsforeign petroleum policy, the Hemisphere Petroleum Policy means Eastern Hemispherepetroleum supply from the Middle East and Western Hemisphere petroleum supply from theAmericas.Chapter3explores the implementation of foreign petroleum policy of the United Stateswithin the framework of the Hemisphere Policy. In the implementation of the Marshall Plan,the United States provided energy assistance for the Western Europe with the Middle Eastpetroleum resources. After the outbreak of the Korean War, the United States adopted thewartime emergency petroleum policy, reducing the output of petroleum in the WesternHemisphere and simultaneously taking steps to protect the economic interests ofpetroleum-producing countries in Latin America.Chapter4specially discusses the solution process of the Iranian Petroleum Crisis. TheFederal Trade Commission of the United States released the report “The InternationalPetroleum Cartel” to assess the world petroleum situation, pointing out the rationality for themajor U.S. petroleum companies to get rid of the anti-monopoly law bound; NSC138of theNational Security Council claimed that the exploiting of multinational petroleum companiesin the Middle East is necessary for meeting the growing demand for petroleum in the entireWestern world, also an important goal of U.S. national security interests.