Oil Companies as Agents of Post-Colonial Relations: France, Algeria, and Italy in the Sahara

Abstract

The ‘oil curse’ and the ‘Dutch disease’ are well-known expressions used in modern development studies to indicate the negative economic and social impact that hydrocarbon production can have on a country. However, this use reflects fairly recent theories, developed since the late 1970s. In previous decades, and particularly in the years of the decolonisation process, oil was considered a blessing, the best opportunity for newly-independent countries to develop and to obtain economic as well as constitutional independence. European countries also needed access to a resource that after 1945 fuelled the global economy; as the largest importing area in the world, Europe became particularly dependent on producer countries, but also on the decisions of the international oil industry, which controlled oil supplies in Europe. In the EEC-6 area, this created a split between The Netherlands and Germany on one side, which preferred to leave oil supplies to the control of the Dutch-based Shell and the US majors, and Italy and France on the other, which preferred to establish a strong State-owned oil industry. This chapter analyses the role of the oil industry in the negotiations between France and Algeria during the decolonisation period, and assesses the importance attached to the oil industry as a means of facilitating Algerian development and independence.