EARLIER this year, the Arab oil embargo against various Western nations was lifted, and a more normal flow of oil from North Africa and the Middle East resumed. Many people breathed a sigh of relief. They hoped that this would mean the end of oil shortages.

Thus, domestic production and imports did not quite meet the rising demand inside the United States. That is why there were shortages of heating oil and gasoline even before the Arab oil embargo. The embargo late in 1973 merely made a troublesome situation worse.

The lifting of the embargo in 1974 relieved the worst shortages temporarily. But it did not really solve the supply problem, because the United States and many other countries use much more oil than they produce. And the demand for oil in those lands keeps growing.