By end of the 1950s, the petroleum industry came to be characterised by an overcapacity to produce. The most significant factor causing overproduction was the high number of global oil discoveries in the 1950s, but it was also a by-product of the coming of age of exploration geophysics. It ultimately caused a shift in many oil companies' commercial priorities from the upstream – exploration - to the midstream – transport - sector. This was especially true of France and Italy,