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U.S. companies had historically played a major role in Libya’s oil development. The Oasis Group — a consortium of ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil and Hess — and Occidental Petroleum were particularly prominent. Exxon, Chevron and Italy’s state-run Eni were also major players.
They had weathered the 1969 coup when Gaddafi seized power. In 1970, when Gaddafi had threatened to nationalize oil operations, Occidental Chairman Armand Hammer flew to Tripoli for face-to-face negotiations. Each night, he flew back to Paris, where he felt safer. At one meeting, the deputy prime minister put his .45 revolver down on the table. The result: Libya extracted higher prices and a boost in royalties.
That was the beginning of a decade that tilted the balance of power away from oil companies toward oil-exporting countries.
In late February 2008...according to a U.S. State Department cable made available by WikiLeaks. Gaddafi “threatened to dramatically reduce Libya’s oil production and/or expel U.S. oil and gas companies,” the cable said.