Nationalization of the French oil companies in Algeria

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The nationalization of the French oil companies in Algeria was a compensated expropriation of an industrial sector as part of decolonization .

The Algerian State acquired on 24 February 1971 by four French oil and gas companies each 51% of the share capital , the four billion German Mark was estimated. These four corporations were about 80% owned by the French state.

background

In the 1962 peace agreement, the governments of Charles de Gaulle and Ahmed Ben Bella agreed on special relations. In 1965, the governments of Charles de Gaulle and Ahmed Ben Bella signed an oil production agreement. In this French state companies were allowed to partially exploit the deposits in the Sahara . The deal stipulated that Algeria would receive $ 2.08 per barrel of oil and an additional 50% of profits. In addition, 50% of the net profits generated by the companies had to be reinvested in Algeria. This treaty subsequently protected the French companies from the nationalization that was carried out at other companies in Algeria. At the earliest possible date, in the summer of 1970, this contract was terminated by the Algerian government of Houari Boumedienne . In 1970 the Algerian government demanded an increase in its share of the price of crude oil to USD 2.85 / barrel and a reinvestment rate in Algeria of 90%. The Algerian government lifted preferential tariffs on some groups of goods from France and French tankers were partially refused permission to load crude oil in Algeria. The negotiations between the governments of Algeria and the government of Georges Pompidou were declared to have failed on February 2, 1971. Since in 1969 Muammar al-Gaddafi had put himself up to the government in Libya and nationalized the oil companies, the French oil industry had to reschedule at short notice. Of the approximately 100 million tons of crude oil processed in refineries in France in 1970, 26 million tons were from the 33 million tons of Algerian production and 17 million tons from Libya.

consequences

The French government succeeded in enforcing in the EEC that no Algerian wine was imported into the countries of the EEC . The Algerian government sold the wine in the Soviet Union and received Fiat licensed vehicles with the designation Lada as compensation . The nationalization of the French oil companies in Algeria was a prerequisite for the concerted increase in the price of crude oil by OPEC , which led to the first oil crisis in 1973.

Individual evidence

  1. Communist Intelligence Service No. 18, Bochum March 6, 1971, p. 10f

References

  1. en: 1970-1979 world oil market chronology # 1971