Carey's New England Petroleum Corp. then sold the oil to utilities in the Northeastern United States, which had been under pressure to reduce pollution by burning cleaner fuels.
[8] Carey Energy's principal assets were a 65% ownership in the Bahamas Refinery (Standard Oil owned the remaining 35%) as well as the New England Petroleum Company.
The contract tied the payments that Charter had to make against Carey's outstanding bills to the amount of oil the Libyans supplied.
It thus solved the problem that had made it impossible for Carey to continue in business: the refusal of the company's suppliers to provide any more oil on credit.
"[10]The contract with Libya, plus a substantial increase in refinery profit margins that accompanied the 1979 oil shortage, "enabled Charter to settle all of its debts with Carey's foreign suppliers just four months after it had taken over the company.
"[11] Charter filed for bankruptcy protection in late 1984, eventually selling off all of its businesses and purchasing Spelling Entertainment Inc.[12][13] In 1953, Carey helped found the Commonwealth Oil Refining Company in the Puerto Rico under the development program known as Operation Bootstrap.