There isn't any shortage of oil in the Middle East. The OPEC rulers don't even need to drill any more wells. All they need to do is turn the spigots to increase or decrease the flow of oil, which is exactly what they've been doing.
In 1997 they opened the faucets wide to increase the flow of oil and drive oil prices down to historic lows. That had exactly the effect they planned: it discouraged U.S. investors and drillers from exploration, U.S. production was cut back and 30,000 Americans lost their jobs.
Now, in 2000, OPEC turned the faucets down in order to decrease the flow of oil and drive up the price. So Americans, whose domestic production has been curtailed, are paying extra tribute to the OPEC sheiks to the tune of tens of billions of dollars a year.