Venezuela's nascent oil industry and the 1932 US tariff on crude oil imports, 1927-1935

• Autores: Brian S. McBeth
• Localización: Revista de Historia Económica = Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, ISSN 0212-6109, Año nº 27, Nº 3, 2009, págs. 427-462
• Idioma: inglés
• DOI: 10.1017/s0212610900000835
• Enlaces
  • Texto completo
• Resumen
  • español

    Después de una breve explicación del desarrollo inicial de la industria petrolera venezolana, el artículo examina el impacto de la tarifa a las importaciones de petróleo promulgada en los EE.UU. en 1932 sobre Venezuela. La tarifa americana a las importaciones de petróleo crudo estabilizó los precios de petróleo que habían llegado a un nivel muy bajo. Esto impidió que los consumidores se beneficiaran de precios bajos en productos de petróleo refinado. Las grandes petroleras integradas americanas que suministraban petróleo al mercado doméstico e internacional ahora recibían precios relativamente altos para su producción doméstica mientras abastecían los mercados europeos en la mayoría con petróleo barato de sus nuevos yacimientos venezolanos. La tarifa aumentó la vulnerabilidad de Venezuela a los eventos internacionales porque se redujo la ventaja comparativa que tenía con la producción de petróleo de los EE.UU. En consecuencia, la dictadura gomecista se volvió más dependiente de las compañías petroleras extranjeras en el país, ya que éstas podrían reducir considerablemente la producción o incluso abandonar el país tan pronto como habían entrado con un impacto negativo en los ingresos fiscales del gobierno

  • English

    After a brief description of the initial development of Venezuela�s crude oil industry, this paper examines the impact the 1932 US tariff on crude oil imports had on the country. The US tariff on crude oil imports stabilised domestic crude oil prices but prevented consumers from benefting from lower prices in refned petroleum products. The large us international integrated crude oil companies gained from higher crude oil prices for their domestic production while supplying their european markets with mostly cheap crude oil from their newly developed Venezuelan oilfelds. The tariff increased the Venezuelan oil industry�s vulnerability to international events because it narrowed the competitive edge it had over domestic us crude oil production. consequently, the Gómez dictatorship in Venezuela at the time became more dependent on the oil companies operating in the country since they could reduce production considerably, or even leave the country as quickly as they entered with a negative impact on government revenues

• Referencias bibliográficas
  • Archivo Histórico de Mirafores, Secretaría General de la Presidencia de la República, Correspondencia Presidencial, 1927–1935.
  • Archivo Histórico de Mirafores, Secretaría General de la Presidencia de la República, Correspondencia del Secretario General, 1927–1935.
  • Archivo particular de Torres, Gumersindo, Correspondencia, 1927–1935.
  • Archivo particular del Torres, Gumersindo Dr, Copiadores, 1927–1935.
  • Cook, Roy C. (1941): Control of the Petroleum Industry by Major Oil Companies. Temporary National Economic Committee —Investigation of Concentration...
  • «Financial Position of American Oil Industry Strengthened during Depression». Petroleum Press Service, 1:18, pp. 4–5, sept. 15, 1934.
  • Herrera, F. R. (1920): «Datos sobre la Industria Petrolífera en Venezuela». Boletín del Ministerio de Fomento, 1 (2), pp. 2–16.
  • Latin American World, 14: 5, 51, January 1933.
  • «Growing profts of US oil industry». Petroleum Press Service, 2:22, pp. 3–4, 1935.
  • «Oil Embargo? Merger?». Time, 16.2.31 in http://www/time/magazine/article/0,9,71,7410941,00.html.
  • Osborne, J. B. (1912): «Protection of American Commerce and Capital Abroad». North American Review, 195, pp. 687–700.
  • «Shifts in European supply and the Iraq Oil». Petroleum Press Service, 1: 5, pp. 1–3, 1934.
  • «The Cost of Producing Oil». Oil News, Jan. 14, 1932, pp. 40–41.
  • UK National Archives, Cabinet Office, Committee of Imperial Defence, Oil Board, 1927–1935.
  • UK National Archives, Foreign Office, General Correspondence, Political, 1927–1935.
  • US Congressional Record, 1927–1935.
  • US Energy Information Administration at http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet/ sum crdsnd adc mbbl m.htm.
  • US House of Representatives (1931): «Regulating importation of petroleum and related products». Hearings before the Committee on Ways &...
  • US House of Representatives (1932): «Production Costs of Crude Petroleum and of Refined petroleum products». House Document No. 195, 72 Cong....
  • US House of Representatives (1934): «Petroleum Investigation». Hearings before a Sub-Committee of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign...
  • US House of Representatives (1934a): «Petroleum Investigation». Hearings before a Sub-Committee of the Committee on Interstate and Foreign...
  • US House of Representatives (1940): Petroleum Industry. Investigation of Economic Power, Hearings before the Temporary National Economic Committee,...
  • US House of Representatives (1940a): Petroleum Industry Investigation of Concentration of Economic Power. Hearings before the Temporary National...
  • US House of Representatives (1950): «Effects of Foreign Oil Importers on Independent Domestic Producers». A Report of the Sub-Committee on...
  • US Government, Records of the Department of State relating to the Internal Affairs of Venezuela (DS) 831.6363/284 Department of State, Office...
  • US National Archives, Records of the Department of State relating to the Internal Affairs of Venezuela, 1927–1929.
  • US Senate (1931): «Cost of Crude Petroleum in 1931». Senate Document No. 267, 71 Cong. 3 Sess. Washington, USGPO.
  • US Senate (1931a): Regulating Importation of Petroleum and Related Products. Hearings before the committee on Commerce, 71 Cong. 3 Sess. January...
  • US Senate (1942): «Patents». Hearings before the Committee on Patents, 77 Cong., 2 Sess. Washington, USGPO. US Senate (1945): «Foreign...
  • US Senate (1946): «American Petroleum Interests in Foreign Countries». Hearings before a Special Committee Investigating Petroleum Resources,...
  • US Senate (1946a): «Investigation of Petroleum Resources». Hearings before a Special Committee Investigating Petroleum Resources, 79 Cong....
  • US Tariff Commission (1946): Petroleum, War Changes in Industry Series No. 17. Washington: USGPO.
  • US Tariff Commission (1952): «The International Petroleum Cartel». Senate Committee Print No. 6, 82 Cong. 2 Sess. Washington, USGPO.
  • Venezuela, Ministerio de Minas e Hidrocarburos, Dirección General (1964): Petróleo y Otros Datos Estadísticos. Caracas, NP.
  • Venezuela, Ministry of Mines and Hydrocarbons, Directorate General (1966): Venezuelan Petroleum Industry. Statistical Data. Caracas, NP.
  • American Petroleum Institute (1939): Petroleum Facts & Figures. New York, API, 6th Edition.
  • Baptista, A. (1997): Bases Cuantitativas de la Economia Venezolana, 1830–1995. Caracas, Fundación Polar.
  • Bastiat, F. (1996): Economic Sophisms. Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, The Foundation for Economic Education.
  • Bates, J. L. (1963): The Origins of Teapot Dome. Progressive Parties and Petroleum, 1909–1921. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
  • Bhagwati, J. (1988): Protectionism. Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press.
  • Blakeley, R. G., and Blakeley, G. S. (1932): «The Revenue Act of 1932». American Economic Association, 22 (4), pp. 620–640.
  • Bradley, R. L. Jr (1989): The Mirage of Oil Protection. Lanham, University Press of America.
  • Brand, D. R. (1983): «Corporatism, the NRA and the Oil Industry». Political Science Quarterly, 98: 1 (Spring), pp. 99–118.
  • Brown, J. C. (1985): «Why Foreign Oil Companies Shifted their Production from Mexico to Venezuela during the 1920s». The American Historical...
  • Butler, J. D. (1959): «The infuence of economic factors on the location of oil refineries (with primary reference to the world outside the...
  • Carrillo Batalla, T. E. (2003): Cuentas Nacionales de Venezuela, 1915–1935. Caracas, Banco Central de Venezuela.
  • De Chazeau, M. G., and Kahn, A. E. (1973): Integration and Competition in the Petroleum Industry. Port Washington, New York, Kennikat Press.
  • Deterding, H. Sir (1934): An International Oilman. london: Ivor Nicholson & Watson Ltd.
  • Dunn, R. W. (1926): American Foreign Investments. New York: B W Huebsch & The Viking Press, 1926.
  • Engler, R. (1961): The Politics of Oil. A Study of Private Power and Democratic Directions. New York: The MacMillan Co.
  • Knudson, D. L. T. (1975): «Petroleum, Venezuela and the United States, 1920–1941». PhD Diss., Michigan State University.
  • Larson, H. M., Knowlton, E. H., and Popple, Ch. S. (1971): History of Standard Oil Company (New Jersey). New Horizons, 1827–1950. New York,...
  • Mcbeth, B. S. (1983): Juan Vicente Gómez and the Oil Companies in Venezuela, 1908–1935. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1983.
  • Mcbeth, B. S. (1985): British Oil Policy, 1919–1939. London, Frank Cass & Co.
  • Mcdermond, C. C. (1932): Who's Who in Venezuela. Maracaibo: NP, 2 Ed.
  • Messerlin, P. A. (2001): Measuring the Costs of Protectionism in Europe: European Commercial Policy for the 2000s. Washington, D. C., Institute...
  • Nash, G. D. (1968): The United States Oil Policy. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press.
  • Noggle, B. (1965) Teapot Dome. Oil and Politics in the 1920's. New York: W W Norton & Co. Inc.
  • Rangel, D. A. (1970): Capital y Desarrollo. El Rey Petróleo. Caracas: Universidad Central de Venezuela, vol. 2.
  • Redfield, A. H. (1942): «Our Petroleum Diplomacy in Latin America». PhD Diss., The American University (Washington). Ricardo, D. (1992):...
  • Rippy, J. F. (1958): Globe & Hemisphere. Latin America's Place in Post-War Foreign Relations of the United States. Chicago: Henry...
  • Rostow, E. V. (1948): A National Policy of the Oil Industry. New Haven: Yale University Press.
  • Schaffer, E. H. (1968): The Oil Import Program of the United States. New York: Frederick A Praeger.
  • Skinner, W. R. (1936): The Oil and Petroleum Manual, London, NP.
  • Smiley, G. (2002): Rethinking the Great Depression. Chicago, Ivan R Dee Publisher.
  • Smith, A. (1981): The Wealth of Nations. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund/Liberty Press.
  • Uren, L. Ch. (1950): Petroleum Production Engineering. Petroleum Production Economics. New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co. Inc.
  • Watkins, M. W. (1973): Oil stabilization or conservation? A case study in the organization of industrial control. New York, Harper & Brothers...
  • Williamson, H. F.et al (1963): The American Petroleum Industry. The Age of Energy, 1899–1959. Vol. 2, Evanston, Northwestern University Press.