Decolonization of Oil

This chapter examines decolonization of oil in the Persian Gulf. The decolonization of oil conveys deconstruction of colonial oil order established by British Empire and governed by multinational oil companies. The monopolistic, noncompetitive, and exploitative colonial oil order had imposed unequal oil concessions terms on oil producing Gulf countries. However, the achievement of political independence and exercise of political sovereignty made permanent sovereignty over oil resources inevitable. Taken together, concepts and assertions of sovereignty such as equity and changing circumstances were frequently used by anticolonial oil elites. Colonial concession terms, on the one hand, the strategic and economic value of oil and increasing demand for oil, on the other hand, awakened oil consciousness and become stepping-stones in the process of oil decolonization. However, oil decolonization process took decades and required confrontation with oil companies and their home governments. The process thus proceeded either through renegotiation or nationalization. Renegotiation was considered a moderate way of solution and aimed at state participation. Some countries preferred rather a radical solution that led to the outright nationalization. The following sections examine the paradigms of oil consciousness that realized the decolonization of the colonial oil order.