Print this pageAbstract: Emergence of National Oil Companies
The objectives of national oil companies range from maximizing government income from resources, to controlling exploration and development for the good of the country, to pure nationalism or ideology or desire for economic and political power.
Certainly national oil companies will play a dominant role in the industry's future, and their relation to major private oil companies will depend greatly on government action. The success of technology transfer and the opportunity of the national oil comanies to function independently of politics will be important to the future course of the industry. Whether the holdout countries, the United States and Australia, will continue to try to run their petroleum industry through regulations, taxes, and price controls, or whether they also will form national oil companies will depend somewhat on the success of other national oil companies.
AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90963©1978 AAPG/SEG/SEPM Pacific Section Meeting, Sacramento, California