YPFB

Nobody's equipment was seized.

Foreign companies were ordered to hand all production over to the state energy company YPFB, sign new contracts within 180 days and accept a much bigger government cut.

On the two biggest fields, San Alberto and San Antonio, the state's share of the value of production jumped to 82%, leaving 18% for the operators.

The mechanics matter because they explain how this story ends.

A year earlier, under President Carlos Mesa, Bolivia's 2005 hydrocarbons law had already raised the state's take.

It added a 32% direct tax on hydrocarbons, known by its Spanish initials EDH, on top of 18% in royalties, so roughly half the value of production was already flowing to the state before Morales took office.

The 2006 decree pushed it higher still and put YPFB back in charge, Then the world handed Bolivia a winning lottery ticket.

Oil traded around $74 a barrel in 2006 and peaked near $147 in 2008.