At first, Tariki concentrated on trying to gain control over refining and marketing assets as a means to raise Saudi oil revenues. He wanted to create a Saudi oil company integrated “right down to the service station” in the consuming countries. He would even raise an idea calculated to send a chill down the back of the American majors: the outright nationalization of Aramco. But then, in early 1959, his entire strategy abruptly changed. Control over prices and production, he suddenly decided, was more important than nationalization and integration. The reason for his change of mind was a
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