Oil Nationalism as a Deterrent to Structural Change? The Case of Oil Contracts in Argentina (1958-1962)

Due to growing oil imports, political leaders had been forced to let private compa- nies produce the much-needed oil without which modern life is impossible. The most strident political clashes with what is known as ‘oil nationalism’, both ending in a coup d’ ́etat, happened in the period 1954/55 and 1958/63. The former had President Per ́on’s dealings with the California Argentina de Petro ́leos S.A., a subsidiary of the Standard Oil, at the center of a heated debate and, the latter, had President Frondizi’s oil contracts with foreign oil companies. The historical, political and diplomatic back- ground is developed so as to understand the complexities that led to the annulment of this unprecedented and effective policy with impressive effects on oil production and investment. For the first time, we show empirical evidence on the effectiveness of these contracts on domestic oil production.