New York Paper - Oil Laws of Latin America (with Discussion)

As the time allotted is short, we can present only a general idea of the oil laws in the Latin-American republics, as a supplement to Bulletin 206 of the Department of the Interior compiled under the direction of J. W. Thompson of the Bureau of Mines and entitled "Petroleum Laws of All America." We shall not discuss the European colonies in Latin-America nor the island republics. As to the countries discussed, we shall attempt to give the main features of such special petroleum legislation as has been adopted prior to the early part of this year; where no special petroleum laws exist, we must look to the mining codes for light on the petroleum policy. As the laws and regulations for the extraction of the metals are often difficult of application to, and are lacking in many essentials for, the petroleum industry, it is best for persons or companies desiring to enter, on a large scale, into the petroleum exploration and development of countries not having special petroleum legislation, to obtain a concession contract from the executive of the country under consideration, and to have the concession approved by the congress. If this concession, which would then be a special law, contains nothing contrary to the constitution of that country and does not infringe on vested rights of third parties, it should be reasonably safe. If in such country there is some doubt as to whether the petroleum subsoil is owned by the nation or the private surface owner, only public lands should be covered with the concession. Guatemala is the only republic in the group that discriminates directly against foreigners. Bolivia, Ecuador, Mexico and Venezuela require waivers of diplomatic protection.' Colombia requires foreigners to agree to be bound by its alien law. In addition,Mexico makes it unlawful for foreigners to acquire direct ownership of real estate, including mines, within a zone of 50 km. along the coasts and one of 100 km. alongitsland