The Impact of Foreign Oil Companies in Colombia: The Case of Standard Oil of New Jersey, 1919 – 1930

Abstract

This essay examines the role of the Colombian government in negotiations with foreign companies for the exploitation of oil deposits in the 1920’s. The case of Standard Oil of New Jersey, controlled by the Rockefeller family, is analyzed through two of its subsidiaries: Tropical Oil Company, for the exploitation of the first oil deposits in Colombia, and Andian National Corporation, for the construction of the first pipeline between the oil fields of Barrancabermeja and the Caribbean port of Cartagena. This study is based on research by the author at the Rockefeller Archive Center, Sleepy Hollow, New York. The main conclusion is that, at that time, Colombia lacked the financial institutions, the technical know-how and the proper legislation that would have enabled it to negotiate fairly the exploitation of its mineral resources. The weak Colombian state was in no condition to assume this and much less to impose terms on very wealthy oil corporations with great capacity for political manipulation.