Energy Crisis, one of the non-cyclic economic crises of capitalism. Outwardly, it manifested itself at the end of 1973 initially with a sharp shortage of energy resources and then by many sharp increases in their prices, first of all in the price of the principal energy resource—oil. The energy crisis was brought about by a group of factors, in a way connected with the expansion of the biggest oil monopolies. To force out their main competitors from the energy market—the coal companies—these monopolies charged low prices for oil exported from the developing countries in the 1950s and 1960s. As a result, the capitalist countries switched their energy balance to imported oil. The perspective that the easily accessible oilfields in the developing countries would be worked out forced the monopolies to develop oil deposits in hard- foraccess oil-bearing regions in the United States, Canada and in certain remote offshore areas of the coastal shelf, as well as to start production of synthetic liquid fuel from coal, oil-bearing tar sands, bituminous shale and other alternate energy sources. Given the considerably higher production costs, they could be developed at a relative profit only if oil prices were sharply raised. Therefore, once the oil companies had consolidated their control over the energy of the capitalist countries it was no longer profitable to maintain 120 low prices on liquid fuel. The continually heightening crisis of the imperialist exploitation of the oil resources of the developing countries prompted the oil monopolies of the developed capitalist countries to expand energy development. The joint efforts of the developing oil-producing countries which had joined together to form the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), led to a geometric increase in the price of oil. From the early 1970s, oil demand began to exceed supply. The energy crisis led to a multifold increase of profits for the oil companies making it not only profitable, but superprofitable for them to develop remote oil deposits, as well as alternate energy sources. The energy crisis had a different impact on the economy and economic perspectives of different capitalist countries. The developing countries, which were global oil exporters, benefited from it. In the oil-importing countries, the development of the energy-intensive industries slowed down. The energy crisis dealt a heavy blow to the economy of most of the West European countries and Japan, where the price of a unit of fuel rose far higher than it did in the United States. This made American products more competitive. In the United States, the energy crisis led to the development of considerable oil reserves and alternate energy sources. In all European countries, energy-consuming companies jacked up the prices of their products in accordance with their higher energy costs. The energy crisis led to a deterioration of the position of the working people in the capitalist countries. Its effect was most painful on the economy of the oil-importing developing countries, which suffered doubly—from the skyrocketing price of imported fuel, and the higher prices of imported manufactures. At the same time the energy crisis accelerated the crisis of the entire system of economic relations between the newly-free states, on the one hand, and the imperialist powers and their monopolies, on the other. The energy crisis was a catalyst for the 1974-75 cyclical crisis. The effect of the energy crisis was intensified by the monetary and ecological crises. In turn, it helped intensify the monetary crisis and inflation and led to a further disturbance of the ecological balance because of eased environmental protection standards.