The Nation - News from Feb. 22, 1987

The domestic oil industry may have been so badly hurt by falling prices over the last year that production will fall “faster and farther” than expected, a Library of Congress study found. The industry has suffered in recent months because of a sharp drop in petroleum prices, generally believed to have been engineered by Saudi Arabia, which flooded international markets with its own crude oil. The industry’s troubles followed the largest boom in history, and even if prices rise to more profitable levels, recovery would not be immediate, the report said.