From Columbia University alumni built in San Francisco
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From Columbia University alumni built in San Francisco

**Lena:** Hey Miles, I was reading about the history of oil companies the other day, and I stumbled upon this fascinating term - "The Seven Sisters." Did you know that for decades after World War II, just seven companies basically controlled the entire global oil industry?
**Miles:** I did! It's pretty mind-blowing when you think about it. These seven corporations - which included names we still recognize like BP, Shell, and the companies that eventually became ExxonMobil - controlled about 85% of the world's petroleum reserves by the 1950s. They weren't just big companies; they were essentially an oligopoly that dictated global oil production, pricing, and distribution.
**Lena:** Right, and the nickname itself has an interesting origin. It was coined by Enrico Mattei, who headed the Italian state oil company, right? I think he was frustrated because his company was excluded from their club.
**Miles:** Exactly! Mattei called them the "Seven Sisters" in the 1950s, and the name stuck. What I find particularly fascinating is how these companies operated almost like sovereign powers. They even signed something called the "Red Line Agreement" in 1928, where they literally drew a red line on a map and divided up oil resources in the former Ottoman Empire between themselves.
**Lena:** That's wild! It's like they were carving up the world. So what happened? I mean, obviously they don't have that kind of power anymore.
**Miles:** Well, that's where the story gets really interesting. Let's explore how the rise of OPEC and the nationalization of oil resources in producing countries completely transformed the global energy landscape and eventually broke the Sisters' dominance.