ABSTRACT
The last decade has witnessed a rapid decline in the relative position of the major international oil companies in the Indian oil industry. Whereas in the Middle East and a number of other places these major international oil companies played a historical role in the development of the oil industries of those areas, in India their main preoccupation was importing and trading. The origin of all the major conflicts between the Government and the major oil companies can be traced back to the latter’s international character. During the British period, the conflicts between the national economic interests of India as an oil consuming country and the world-wide organisation of the major international oil companies were always resolved in favour of the latter. The contribution of the Soviet Union, along with Rumania in the creation of the public sector in oil in India cannot be overestimated.
