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Gaddafi also spends millions of dollars to buy the allegiance of countries in sub-Sahara Africa, particularly those with large Moslem populations; in the past year, at least partly because of Gaddafi's largesse, Uganda, Mali, Chad, Niger and Congo-Brazzaville have all broken diplomatic relations with Israel. Gaddafi even lent $3,000,000 to the U.S. Black Muslims, but he refused further loans because he decided that the group was not truly Islamic. He receives dozens of appeals for foreign aid each year, says Gaddafi, and he judges them all on two criteria: Will the loan help Islam, and will it hurt Israel?
This kind of bravura would not be possible without the billions of barrels of oil that lie beneath the region's sands. Gaddafi and the other oil-rich Arabs have exploited their resources with a shrewd combination of cooperation and militancy. Under the auspices of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), founded by Iran, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia in 1960 to fight a reduction in prices by the oil companies, the eleven major petroleum-producing countries have increased prices 72% since 1970. Last week in Beirut they demanded further compensation to cover the recent erosion of the dollar and pound sterling. Lest the oil consumers unite against them, moreover, the OPEC conference declared ominously that such action "could have negative effects," i.e., a boycott.
Other Sources. Money is not the only issue, however. In Saudi Arabia, the shrewd Minister of Oil and Mineral Wealth, Ahmed Zaki Yamani, negotiated a new policy of "participation" by his government's oil agency, Petromin. Within three years, Petromin will acquire a 25% share in Aramco, the huge producing company through which Exxon, Texaco, Standard Oil of California and Mobil have been pumping Saudi Arabian oil. By 1983, the Saudis' share of Aramco will have increased to 51%. Similar deals have been made by other Middle East producers. Last week, the government of Iran took over the operations of a consortium of American, British, French and Dutch producing companies.
For the U.S., the sharp rise in prices and the increase in Arab ownership come at a time when the nation's reliance on oil from the Middle East is expected to increase dramatically: from 7% of total U.S. consumption today to as much as 50% by the 1980s. President Nixon is said to be convinced, however, that the U.S. must not allow itself to become so dependent on such a distant and unstable region. In his forthcoming message to Congress on the energy crisis, he is expected to ask for funds to develop other sources of energy—coal, shale-oil deposits, chemical substitutes and solar and atomic power—in a hurry. "The time to start worrying about Arab blackmail," says one veteran of the Middle Eastern oil business, "is when the Arabs tell you not to worry about blackmail."