ABSTRACT
Beginning in the late 1940s, however, even as the National Petroleum Company was on the verge of becoming reality, the oil companies were organizing a determined counterattack that formed part of a worldwide offensive, which had its best known success in Iran in 1954. The oil companies were able to confirm that the pools of oil in the Venezuelan Llanos under the Orinoco river basin extended far into the Colombian Llanos. Exxon could reconcile itself to the loss of the Barrancabermeja oil fields not only because of the rising flood of the Middle East oil, but also because of the discoveries in the Colombian Llanos next to the Venezuelan frontier. The most important market for fuels and lubricants was Bogota, the capital city, and to counter the National Petroleum Company's expected push in that direction, Exxon devised a twofold plan.
