1980

• March 1: United States
  United States
  The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
  
   federal Windfall Profits Tax
  Windfall profits tax
  A windfall profits tax is a higher tax rate on profits that ensue from a sudden windfall gain to a particular company or industry.-United Kingdom:In the United Kingdom, the Windfall Tax was a tax levied on privatised utility companies.-United States:...
  
   enacted.
• May: Saudi Light raised to $28.00 per barrel, retroactive to April 1.
• Apr-September: : Buy-Sell Program allocations drop to average of 120000 oilbbl/d for period April to September 1980.:
• September 17: Iraq breaks 1975 treaty with Iran and proclaims sovereignty over Shatt al-Arab waterway.
• September 23: Iraq invades Iran. Mutual bombing of installations.
• November 10: Iraq captures southern port of Khorramshahr.
• November 20–24: U.N. gulf war mediator Olof Palme makes first unsuccessful peace shuttle between Tehran and Baghdad.
• December: Collapse of OPEC's pricing structure. Saudis use $32 per barrel marker, others use $36 per barrel benchmark.

1981

• January: Iraq repels first major Iranian offensive.
• January 28: President Reagan lifts remaining domestic petroleum price and allocation controls originally scheduled to expire in September 1981.
• April: After meetings in Baghdad and Teheran, attempts by nine Islamic Conference leaders to mediate peace between Iraq and Iran fail.
• Aug: Windfall profits tax reduced.
• September 27–28: Iran defends its besieged port of Abadan, driving back Iraqi forces.
• Oct: OPEC reaches an agreement to unify crude price at $32 per barrel through 1982 and sets an ultimate price ceiling of $38 per barrel.
• November 29: Major Iranian offensive mounted on central front.

1982

• March: Damascus closes Iraq's 400000 oilbbl/d trans-Syrian oil export pipeline to show support for Iran.
• March 11: U.S. boycotts Libyan crude.
• May 24:Iran recaptures Khorramshahr.
• June: Iran demands $150 billion in war reparations; pledges war until Iraq's Hussein stands trial.
• June 10: Iraq declares unilateral cease-fire.
• Jul 13: Iran launches first attack into Iraq.

1983

• March: Chicago Board of Trade
  Chicago Board of Trade
  The Chicago Board of Trade , established in 1848, is the world's oldest futures and options exchange. More than 50 different options and futures contracts are traded by over 3,600 CBOT members through open outcry and eTrading. Volumes at the exchange in 2003 were a record breaking 454 million...
  
   (CBOT) and New York Mercantile Exchange
  New York Mercantile Exchange
  The New York Mercantile Exchange is the world's largest physical commodity futures exchange. It is located at One North End Avenue in the World Financial Center in the Battery Park City section of Manhattan, New York City...
  
   (Nymex) enable the trading of crude oil futures contracts.
• April/May: CBOT contracts have delivery problems. Customers move to Nymex
• April: Iraq increases missile attacks on Iran.
• Jul 20-30: Iran moves into northern Iraq. Casualties top 13,800 in ten days.
• Jul 26: U.S. threatens action to preserve navigation in Persian Gulf.
• Jul-Aug: Heavy fighting and casualties in Iran-Iraq war.
• Oct: Iran attacks northern Iraq, threatening Kirkuk pipeline.

1984

• February - March: Iran captures Najnoon Islands.
• March 27: Beginning of "tanker war." Over the next nine months, 44 ships, including Iranian, Iraqi, Saudi Arabian and Kuwaiti tankers, are attacked by Iraqi or Iranian warplanes or damaged by mines.
• March - June: Iran mobilizes 500,000 troops to southern front. No offensive materializes.
• May 26: President Reagan rules out U.S. military intervention.
• June: Civilian target truce in Iran-Iraq war.
• Oct: Norway and Britain cut prices in response to falling spot market. Nigeria follows, renewing pressure on OPEC price cuts.
• October 17: OPEC cuts production to 16 Moilbbl/d, but agreement is negated by cheating and price-discounting.

1985

• January: Nine OPEC members adjust prices to cut gap between light and heavy crudes from $4 to $2.40 per barrel. Saudi light price cut one dollar to $28 per barrel.
• March 11–19: Iranian offensive; heavy casualties.
• May–June: "Battle of the cities" - heavy bombing from both Iran and Iraq.
• June: OPEC output falls to 20-year low of 13.7 Moilbbl/d.
• June: Iran begins hit-and-run raids on Iraq.
• July: OPEC loses customers to cheaper North Sea oil. More OPEC price cuts.
• Aug: Saudi Arabia links prices to spot market. Output rises from 2 Moilbbl/d in August to 5 Moilbbl/d in early 1986.
• Aug 15: First Iraqi air raid on Iran's main oil export terminal, Kharg Island.
• November 6: Exploratory well in Ranger, Texas, blows out, spilling 150000 bbl (23,848.1 m³) of crude oil.
• December: OPEC output hits 18 Moilbbl/d boosting a glut and triggering a price war.

1986

• February 3–4: OPEC
  OPEC
  OPEC is an intergovernmental organization of twelve developing countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. OPEC has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965, and hosts regular meetings...
  
   fails to agree upon a production accord after a two-day meeting in Vienna
  Vienna
  Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
  
  .
• February: Iran
  Iran
  Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
  
   captures southern Faw peninsula, starts northern offensive.
• May 7: Iraq
  Iraq
  Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
  
   bombs Tehran
  Tehran
  Tehran , sometimes spelled Teheran, is the capital of Iran and Tehran Province. With an estimated population of 8,429,807; it is also Iran's largest urban area and city, one of the largest cities in Western Asia, and is the world's 19th largest city.In the 20th century, Tehran was subject to...
  
   refinery.
• June: OPEC production-cut talks fail, ending in a tentative majority pact on an average 1986 ceiling of 17.6 Moilbbl/d.
• June 8: Iraqi jets attack Assadabad satellite station.
• July: Brent price dips under $9 per barrel. OPEC production rises to 20 Moilbbl/d.
• Jul 27: Iraqi jets attack central Iranian city of Arak. Iran threatens missile attack of gulf states supporting Iraq.
• Aug 2: Hussein offers peace in open letter to Iran.
• Aug 4: Reports of probable OPEC agreement on output quotas sends oil prices higher.
• Aug 12: Iran fires missile at refinery near Baghdad. Iraq raids Iranian terminal at Sirri Island severely disrupting Iranian exports.
• December 19: OPEC reaches an accord that would cut production by seven percent for the first six months of 1987 (from 17 Moilbbl/d to 16 Moilbbl/d) and would raise prices immediately toward a target world oil price of $18 per barrel.

1987

• January: OPEC price accord begins to deteriorate.
• February: OPEC majors stick to fixed prices.
• Jun-Aug: Gulf war escalates.
• December: OPEC meeting failure.

1988

• February: OPEC price meeting set.
• March: OPEC/Non-OPEC meeting failure.
• July: Iran accepts cease fire.
• October 14: Crude oil prices jump in anticipation of possible production accord at Gulf Cooperation Council meeting set for October 16.
• November 28: OPEC reaches production accord. Six-month agreement to set production at 18.5 Moilbbl/d. Although the recent OPEC quota had been 19 Moilbbl/d, actual OPEC production had been closer to 21 Moilbbl/d.
• December: Fulmar/Brent outages.

1989

• March: Exxon tanker Valdez
  Exxon Valdez
  Oriental Nicety, formerly Exxon Valdez, Exxon Mediterranean, SeaRiver Mediterranean, S/R Mediterranean, Mediterranean, and Dong Fang Ocean is an oil tanker that gained notoriety after running aground in Prince William Sound spilling hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil in Alaska...
  
   runs aground, spilling 11 of crude oil in the waters of Prince William Sound's
  Prince William Sound
  Prince William Sound is a sound off the Gulf of Alaska on the south coast of the U.S. state of Alaska. It is located on the east side of the Kenai Peninsula. Its largest port is Valdez, at the southern terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System...
  
   Bligh Reef
  Bligh Reef
  Bligh Reef, sometimes known as Bligh Island Reef, is a reef off the coast of Bligh Island in Prince William Sound, Alaska. This was the location of the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. After the incident, US Code 33 § 2733 mandated the operation of an automated navigation light to prevent future...
  
  . Oil prices react upward to news of the spill and to potential shortages on the west coast caused by refinery fires there.
• June: OPEC
  OPEC
  OPEC is an intergovernmental organization of twelve developing countries made up of Algeria, Angola, Ecuador, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Venezuela. OPEC has maintained its headquarters in Vienna since 1965, and hosts regular meetings...
  
  raises their production ceiling to 19.5 Moilbbl/d.