Desarrollo energético en América Latina y la economía mundial

P"ofessor A bbas Aln.asrawi / ENERGY AND 'THE DEVELOPING COUNTRIES politicaland economic developments which resulted from the Great Depression and World War JI, and given the rising importance oí Middle Eastern oil for the world economy and the enormous profits which the oH companies were able to accumulate and transfer to their home countries, the people oí the Middle East came to realize that the concession agreements ,vere instruments which deprived them oí an equitable share in their own wealth. Rence it was inevitable that conflicts should arise. The points of conflicts focused on the size of the area under concession, its duration, its exclusive nature, pricing and output policies, government revenue, cost accounting methods, the surrender of the right oí taxation, fixity of legal terms, the method of settIement of disputes and what amounted to the sovereignty of the foreign oil enclave within a sovereign state. The pricing of crude oil. Historical1y the international oil industry was dominated by the seven vertically integrated major companies which controlled over 90% of the world oil productions (outside the United States and the U.S.S.R.) and the bulk of transportation, refining and marketing facilities. The majors which sought an orderly development of oil production through market allocation and price stabilization were able to solidify their effort through the utilization of two important devices. The first was the joint ownership of producing companies in the oil produc. ing countries in the Middle East and Venezuela. This technique helped the majors to coordinate and control output. The second was the long.term contrast concluded between certain majors to ensure that new oil would enter the world market through their integrated channels. These contracts had the effect of tightening the joint control of the majors over the international oil industry. Forces of change. A number of significant developments which took place in the 1950s had the effect of altering the pattern of relationship between the companies and the governments. The forces of change induded the ::-.doption oí the 50/50 profit sharing arrangements following the Venezuelan example, the nationalization by the Ir,anian government of the concession held by British Petroleum, the entry of newcomers oHering better fiscal and other terms to host governments, the re·entry of Soviet oil into the world market to compete with oi! from tradi· 29