oil use, which produced surpluses. This created a worldwide oil glut, with the price of oil dropping from approximately $36 per barrel in 1980 to approximately $14 by 1986. Saudi oil production, which had increased to almost per day during 1980–81, fell to about in 1985. Budgetary deficits developed, and the government drew down its foreign assets. As a result of the oil glut and the pressure from declines in production, after 1985 Saudi Arabia started enforcing production quotas more harshly for the OPEC members. In June 1993, Saudi Aramco absorbed the state marketing and refining company (SAMAREC), becoming the world's largest fully integrated oil company. Most Saudi oil is exported by tankers from oil terminals at Ras Tanura and Ju'aymah in the Persian Gulf. The remaining oil for export is transported via the east–west pipeline across the kingdom to the Red Sea port Yanbu. A major new gas initiative was supposed to attract significant investments from the American and European oil companies to develop non-associated gas fields in three separate parts of Saudi Arabia. Following final technical agreements with concession awardees in December 2001, development should have started in 2002. However, beginning in late 1997, Saudi Arabia again faced the challenge of low oil prices. Because of a combination of factors—the East Asian economic crises, a warm winter in the West caused by El Niño, and an increase in non-OPEC oil production—demand for oil decreased and pulled oil prices down by more than one-third. Saudi Arabia was a key player in coordinating the successful 1999 campaign of OPEC and other oil-producing countries to raise the oil price to its highest level since the (Persian) Gulf War by managing petroleum supply and production. That same year, Saudi Arabia established the Supreme Economic Council to formulate and better coordinate economic development policies to accelerate institutional and industrial reforms. Saudi Arabia joined the WTO (World Trade Organization) in 2005 after many years of negotiations. Foreign investment Before 2000, there were strict limits placed on foreign direct investment in Saudi Arabia. The 1979 Foreign Investment Act prohibited foreign ownership in some sectors of the economy, allowed foreign investment only if the investor qualified for a license based on their expertise, and gave priority to businesses that were Saudi-owned or partially Saudi-owned. However, in the mid 1990s, foreign ownership rules were relaxed, with investment sought in telecommunications, utilities, and financial services. The 2000 Foreign