La nascita e lo sviluppo dell'Azienda Generale Italiana Petroli (AGIP) negli anni fra le due guerre (1926-1940)

On the eve of the First World War, the geopolitical role of the crude oil begun to reveal all of its importance, affecting the politics of the States. After the war, Great Britain and the United States had a strong diplomatic struggle for the control of the Middle East’s oil, until they signed the «Red Line Agreement» in 1928. The agreement allowed Iraqi’s oil exploitation by the cartel guided by the Iraq Petroleum Company. Oil industry was completely under the control of the two most powerful corporation, Standard Oil of New Jersey and Royal Dutch-Shell. For Italy the building and the development of the oil industry was a great task, chiefly for the lack of oil in her borders and because she had no sources under control. In 1926, the state controlled firm AGIP started with the upstream in Romania and Albania while the Italian oil industry started with the cracking systems. In despite of the unfavourable conditions, AGIP grew quickly and during the Thirties, was able to lead the researches of the Bod Company in Iraq. AGIP and its partner found oil in a rich land near Mosul, confirming the high level of skills reached by the Italian firm. In the meantime, the crude oil had increased its importance becoming the vital commodity of the industrial age and for economic power. Italy realized the great role of the crude oil and showed a great dynamism towards its oil industry with the building of modern hydrogenation plants. The lack of sources compelled Italy to the hydrogenation technology. With the mighty plants of ANIC, Italy solved all of her problems of refining, showing startling industrial capabilities while the main obstacle for her political power was the lack of crude oil sources.