The Anglo-American Petroleum Agreement or Washington Agreement (August 8, 1944) was a failed attempt by the British and American governments to establish a lasting agreement to manage international petroleum supply and demand. The agreement would have established the International Petroleum Commission for the purposes of balancing discordant supply and demand, managing surplus, and bringing order and stability to a market laden with oversupply, similar to the Texas Railroad Commission in the United States. After being concluded, the agreement faced near total opposition from the petroleum industry, prompting U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt to withdraw the treaty from ratification consideration and abandon the agreement.
Famous quotes containing the word agreement:
“No one can doubt, that the convention for the distinction of property, and for the stability of possession, is of all circumstances the most necessary to the establishment of human society, and that after the agreement for the fixing and observing of this rule, there remains little or nothing to be done towards settling a perfect harmony and concord.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)