The COMECON Internal Analysis of the Prospects for the Development of Oil Cooperation with Iraq in the 1970s

Abstract

October 2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the moment when the world faced the first oil shock of 1973—1974. As time has shown, its influence (along with the influence of the second oil shock of 1979—1980) turned out to be significant not only for the “Capitalist Bloc”, but also for the “Socialist Camp”. On the eve of the first oil shock, in the spring and summer of 1973, a new working body was created within the framework of the Comecon (its Standing Commission on Foreign Trade), the so-called Petroleum Bureau. It was the Petroleum Bureau that in 1973—1978 represented the main coordinating and analytical center of interested Comecon members in the field of taking coordinated steps by the «Socialist Bloc» to build effective foreign economic cooperation with the developing countries that produced liquid hydrocarbons. Among the key activities of the Bureau was the country analysis, which, as a rule, included: a concise economic description of the oil-producing developing countries selected by Comecon for rapprochement; a brief assessment of their domestic political situation, main features and problems of their socio-economic development; information about national companies of these countries in the field of fuel and energy, about their national oil reserves and conditions of oil production, as well as their export capabilities and import needs; information on the possibilities of Comecon members coordinated activity in local markets and multilateral cooperation in various economic sectors in order to ensure a continuous flow of primary energy resources from the “developing world”. In this article, for the first time, the document “Generalized material for the development of practical integrated steps of Comecon members cooperation aimed at timely provision of oil purchases in Iraq on a long-term basis”, stored today in the Russian State Archive of Economics (RGAE), is published and introduced into scientific circulation as an example of Comecon Petroleum Bureau country analysis. The published document confirms Comecon good awareness of what was happening to the oil industry and the economy of Iraq in the first half of seventies.