Nick Fountain

The Bible of the oil industry.

To hear Anna's telling of it, Wanda's reporting revealed the secretive ways the Seven Sisters were extracting wealth from the oil states, like little accounting tricks.

Which brings us back to the conference, the one where Wanda walked into the sea of men.

Just before the conference, the seven sisters decided, meh.

We're going to start paying less for oil.

So that's the context going into this meeting.

And Wanda, she knows all the players, including the two men maybe most amped to do something about this Seven Sisters sort of cartel.

the oil minister of Venezuela, and the oil minister of Saudi Arabia.

Coke, yeah, soda, not that other thing.

The men arranged a secret meeting at an empty yacht club outside of town.

They invited other officials from Kuwait, Iraq, Egypt, Iran.

To avoid the prying eyes and ears of the seven sisters, they all drove in separate cars and met under a tree on the banks of the Nile.

A bunch of guys in black suits.

It was right then and there that they came to an agreement.

They were going to try to band together and wrest control back from the sort of cartel that was the Seven Sisters.

with an organization of their own.

So that, as an association of oil states, they could have more of a say over how much they sold their oil for.

This organization would eventually come to be known as OPEC, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

And Wanda... She came to be known as the midwife of OPEC.

The midwife of OPEC?