Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- Preface
- Glossary
- Abbreviations
- Note on currencies and other units of measurement
- Maps: Latin America in 1920, 1940, 1960 and 1981; showing importing countries, exporting countries and countries self-sufficient in oil
- Introduction: The politics of oil in twentieth-century Latin America
- Part I The world oil environment
- 1 The corporate ascendancy 1890–1927
- 2 Retrenchment and concentration 1928–41
- 3 The making of the post-war oil world 1942–55
- 4 The major companies in retreat 1955–70
- 5 The oil market revolution and its consequences for Latin America 1971–9
- 6 Latin America in the twentieth-century oil system
- Part II The major expropriations
- Part III The state oil companies
- Notes and bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES
4 - The major companies in retreat 1955–70
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables
- Preface
- Glossary
- Abbreviations
- Note on currencies and other units of measurement
- Maps: Latin America in 1920, 1940, 1960 and 1981; showing importing countries, exporting countries and countries self-sufficient in oil
- Introduction: The politics of oil in twentieth-century Latin America
- Part I The world oil environment
- 1 The corporate ascendancy 1890–1927
- 2 Retrenchment and concentration 1928–41
- 3 The making of the post-war oil world 1942–55
- 4 The major companies in retreat 1955–70
- 5 The oil market revolution and its consequences for Latin America 1971–9
- 6 Latin America in the twentieth-century oil system
- Part II The major expropriations
- Part III The state oil companies
- Notes and bibliography
- Index
- CAMBRIDGE LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES
Summary
The middle 1950s was a high-water mark for the major companies. The Iranian challenge had been defeated and producer governments were quiescent. Rapidly increasing demand in Europe allowed the progressive development of the highly profitable Middle Eastern finds without creating major tensions elsewhere. The major oil-exporting countries were still being developed almost exclusively by consortia in which the major companies had controlling interests, and elaborate schemes had been arranged to regulate the supply of oil from these countries. In the following 15 years, however, this position was steadily eroded; the actions of producer governments, although essentially defensive, became increasingly important after the formation of OPEC in 1960, but the immediate challenge to the majors came from the independent companies – the newcomers – who were becoming increasingly prominent in the search for foreign oil supplies. Under these circumstances, world prices began to erode and this erosion brought further tensions and conflicts into the international oil market.
The first significant erosion of the major companies' control over the most important non-us oil reserves came in Venezuela, where in 1956 Pérez Jiménez offered a massive new round of concessions to the highest bidders. Good oil prospects, proximity to the USA and a government eager to supplement its major source of income all attracted independent us companies which were willing to undercut established suppliers in order to find marketing outlets.
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- Chapter
- Information
- Oil and Politics in Latin AmericaNationalist Movements and State Companies, pp. 83 - 113Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1982