1 August 2003
Dinosaurs evolve to survive
New pressures are transforming NOCs’ modus operandi, with Colombia’s Ecopetrol the latest to be pushed into a more competitive world. But have the international majors really won the day? James Gavin reports
NATIONAL OIL companies (NOCs) are finding life in the 21st century vastly different to their 1970s heyday. NOCs may still, by some estimates, control 90% of the world's hydrocarbons reserves, but new challenges are causing old-style national energy companies to tear up the rulebook. Where once they ruled the roost, dictating national energy policy and accruing much of its revenues, harsh new commercial realities are forcing NOCs to become very different beasts. This process has accelerated in recent years. In the past five years alone: Argentina's YPF has been privatised (and bought by Spain's Repsol - itself privatised during the 1990s); Brazil's Petrobras has lost its licensing authority
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