Resumen

DARWICH OSORIO, Gregorio. Los senderos originarios de la institucionalidad petrolera venezolana. CDC [online]. 2010, vol.27, n.74, pp.1-25. ISSN 1012-2508.

This article examines the origins of the Venezuelan oil institutionality. Simon Bolívar Mining Act of 1829, which transferred legal ownership of Venezuelan mines to the state, is seen as the seminal arrangement of this institutionality: the term «mines» included the «juices of the earth». The oil institutionality was established during the first four decades of the twentieth century, developing from mining laws to special contracts for asphalt and oil production, from mining and oil decrees to specific oil laws, from informal practices to the institutionalization of the written rules. All along that time, the primigenial paths of the Venezuelan oil institutionality were characterized by state ownership of subsoil resources

Palabras clave : Foundational oil institutionality; Oil history; Venezuela.