Technology as The Main Driver Behind The National Oil Companies Journey from a Passive to Dynamic Role in The Global Oil Industry

There have been so many ups and downs in the oil and gas industry that caused different challenges for the players. “Nationalization of resources” helped national oil companies to gain the position they have in today’s oil industry. This wave happened to reduce the power of international oil companies and their dominance on the oil reserves. Since then, national oil companies have tried to gain essential capabilities in order to survive in the competition. They started as a passive player, but continued on their way to becoming an active and effective player in today’s industry. The main reasons behind this catch-up process is: collaborative projects with competitors and alliances, increasing management skills, and gaining access to technology and building technological competences which seems to be the most important one. This article is about to discuss and present a literature review on how this catching up process occurred and highlight the reasons and important elements of this process.