Enrique Mosconi
Encyclopedia
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
, who is best known as the pioneer and organizer of petroleum
Petroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
surveyance and exploitation in Argentina.
Mosconi was born in Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
to Enrico Mosconi, an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
engineer hired to build railroads, and María Juana Canavery, an Argentinian of Irish
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
ascent. Enrico Mosconi founded the town of Villa Gobernador Galvez on 26 February 1888. Enrico Mosconi wanted a medical doctor son; the mother, a military son, to follow the family tradition of Ángel Canavery
Ángel Canavery
Angel Mateo Canavery was a Lieutenant Colonel of the Argentine Army that was part of the call conquest of the desert.- Biography :...
, his uncle, who had taken part in the Conquest of the Desert
Conquest of the Desert
The Conquest of the Desert was a military campaign directed mainly by General Julio Argentino Roca in the 1870s, which established Argentine dominance over Patagonia, which was inhabited by indigenous peoples...
. Mosconi had two older sisters and two younger brothers. Being only two years old the family moved to Italy, coming back a few years later after the death of Mosconi's mother. Enrico Mosconi re-married to Countess Maria Luisa Natti.
Early studies
Once finished primary school, young Mosconi entered the Military College of the Nation on 26 May 1891, and graduated from it as an infantry sub-lieutenant on 20 November 1894, at 17 years of age. He was assigned to take charge of the 7th Infantry Regiment in Río Cuarto, CórdobaRío Cuarto, Córdoba
-References:* - Official website....
, and he began writing a "Rulebook for Campaign Infantry", with details on the handling of explosives and instructions to build bridges. In 1896 he was promoted and transferred to Buenos Aires, where he started the Engineering career.
In 1899 he performed topographical and statistical surveys of the Andes
Andes
The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...
in the province of Mendoza, and the next year he took part in the studies in the Patagonia
Patagonia
Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...
to establish a strategically important railroad system in Neuquén
Neuquén Province
Neuquén is a province of Argentina, located in the west of the country, at the northern end of Patagonia. It borders Mendoza Province to the north, Rio Negro Province to the southeast, and Chile to the west...
.
In 1901 he graduated from the Faculty of Physical and Natural Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires as a civil engineer
Civil engineer
A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering; the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructures while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing infrastructures that have been neglected.Originally, a...
. His doctoral thesis dealt with a project to dam
Dam
A dam is a barrier that impounds water or underground streams. Dams generally serve the primary purpose of retaining water, while other structures such as floodgates or levees are used to manage or prevent water flow into specific land regions. Hydropower and pumped-storage hydroelectricity are...
the Nahuel Huapi Lake
Nahuel Huapi Lake
Nahuel Huapi Lake is a lake in the lake region of northern Patagonia between the provinces of Río Negro and Neuquén, in Argentina. The lake depression consists of several glacial valleys carved out along faults and Miocene valleys that were later dammed by moraines.Nahuel Huapi lake, located...
and installing a valve to regulate the flow of the Limay River
Limay River
The Limay River is an important river in the northwestern Argentine Patagonia . It is born at the eastern end of the Nahuel Huapi Lake and flows in a meandering path for about 380 km, collecting the waters of several tributaries, such as the Traful, the Pichileufú and the Collón Curá. It then meets...
and the Río Negro, in Neuquén, in order to make them navigable.
Military career
In 1903 he was transferred to the Engineering division of the Army as a military engineer, and in 1904 he received a prize for a construction project. Between 1906 and 1908 he was part of commission of Argentine graduate students sent to EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
(Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
) to study and acquire hydroelectric and gas power plants. He was assigned to the German Army engineering corps, and spent four years embedded in the 10th Battalion of Westphalia
Westphalia
Westphalia is a region in Germany, centred on the cities of Arnsberg, Bielefeld, Dortmund, Minden and Münster.Westphalia is roughly the region between the rivers Rhine and Weser, located north and south of the Ruhr River. No exact definition of borders can be given, because the name "Westphalia"...
, while in postgraduate studies at the Artillery and Engineering Superior Technical School of Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg
Charlottenburg is a locality of Berlin within the borough of Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf, named after Queen consort Sophia Charlotte...
. In Germany he became acquainted with the ideas of Friedrich List
Friedrich List
Georg Friedrich List was a leading 19th century German economist who developed the "National System" or what some would call today the National System of Innovation...
(1789–1846), an economist whose industrialist ideas had great influence in Europe and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
In 1909 Mosconi returned to Argentina as Chief of the 2nd Engineers Battalion, stays a few months and then travels to Europe again in order to acquire materials for the Engineering division. There he studies and works in telegraphists and railway specialists units in Germany, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary
Austria-Hungary , more formally known as the Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen, was a constitutional monarchic union between the crowns of the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary in...
. He came back to Argentina in December 1914, and re-took his post as the chief of the Engineering Regiment until 1915, when he was appointed director of the Esteban de Luca Arsenal. In 1920 he was moved the Aeronautics division, which he directed until 1922.
YPF and the nationalization of oil
On 16 October 1922 Mosconi was appointed Director-General of the Fiscal Petroleum Reserves (Yacimientos Petrolíferos FiscalesYacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales
Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales is an Argentine oil company.Founded in 1922 under President Hipólito Yrigoyen's administration, it was privatized in 1993 by Carlos Menem, and bought by the Spanish firm Repsol; the resulting merger in 1999 produced Repsol YPF...
, YPF), where he would stay for eight years, devoting large efforts to increase exploration and development of petroleum extraction.
YPF received an initial grant of 8 million Argentine peso
Argentine peso
The peso is the currency of Argentina, identified by the symbol $ preceding the amount in the same way as many countries using dollar currencies. It is subdivided into 100 centavos. Its ISO 4217 code is ARS...
s by the national government, and from then on became self-sufficient, financing itself with the profits of extraction and, of course, without foreign investment or loans. In 1925 Mosconi considered the possibility of a state-private society, but in 1928 he turned back on his proposal and further stated:
- "There is no other way but the monopoly of the State in a wholesale fashion, that is, in all activities of this industry: production, elaboration, transport and trade... Without an oil monopoly it is difficult... it is impossible for a State company to defeat private capital organizations."
He also remarked that, in order to defend Argentine fiscal oil reserves from the foreign companies, there was the need of "a magnificent insensitivity to all demands on the part of private interests, either in accord or not with the collective interests, but even more, what is needed is a political power capable of containing all opposing forces". Some of the nationalistic policies of Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
n President Hugo Chávez
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías is the 56th and current President of Venezuela, having held that position since 1999. He was formerly the leader of the Fifth Republic Movement political party from its foundation in 1997 until 2007, when he became the leader of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela...
have been marked as a continuation of this doctrine.
He created in 1927 the Alianza Continental (Continental Alliance) advocating economical independence for Latin American states, an association gathering mainly students and intellectuals, and focusing in particular on oil policies
Petroleum politics
Petroleum politics have been an increasingly important aspect of diplomacy since the rise of the petroleum industry in the Middle East in the early 20th century...
.
Between 1927 and 1928 Mosconi toured Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
telling and teaching the authorities about the Argentine experience with regards to fossil fuel
Fossil fuel
Fossil fuels are fuels formed by natural processes such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms. The age of the organisms and their resulting fossil fuels is typically millions of years, and sometimes exceeds 650 million years...
s, campaigning for an integration of efforts in the matter of petroleum as a resource. Mosconi was the major proponent of a national policy that put natural resources at the service of economic, industrial and social development of the nation. He defended nationalization
Nationalization of oil supplies
The nationalization of oil supplies refers to the process of deprivatization of oil production operations, generally in the purpose of obtaining more revenue from oil for oil producing countries. This process, which should not be confused with restrictions on crude oil exports, represents a...
of these resources, an absolute fiscal monopoly
Monopoly
A monopoly exists when a specific person or enterprise is the only supplier of a particular commodity...
on surveyance and exploitation, the need for Latin American countries to agree on common actions in this matter, and the passing of resource-related legislation that was advantageous to the interests of the national states. During this trip, Mosconi met with Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas
Lázaro Cárdenas del Río was President of Mexico from 1934 to 1940.-Early life:Lázaro Cárdenas was born on May 21, 1895 in a lower-middle class family in the village of Jiquilpan, Michoacán. He supported his family from age 16 after the death of his father...
, who would nationalize oil in Mexico
Expropiación petrolera
The Mexican oil expropriation was the expropriation of all oil reserves, facilities, and foreign oil companies in Mexico in 1938....
ten years later, and General Elías Plutarco. The influence of these doctrines reached Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
, Uruguay
Uruguay
Uruguay ,officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay,sometimes the Eastern Republic of Uruguay; ) is a country in the southeastern part of South America. It is home to some 3.5 million people, of whom 1.8 million live in the capital Montevideo and its metropolitan area...
, Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
and Colombia
Colombia
Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
.
Mosconi managed YPF efficiently and, while establishing a soon-to-be major oil company, starts fighting the political pressure of two giants of hydrocarbon exploitation: the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
-Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
Royal Dutch
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
, and John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller
John Davison Rockefeller was an American oil industrialist, investor, and philanthropist. He was the founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Rockefeller revolutionized the petroleum industry and defined the structure of...
s' Standard Oil
Standard Oil
Standard Oil was a predominant American integrated oil producing, transporting, refining, and marketing company. Established in 1870 as a corporation in Ohio, it was the largest oil refiner in the world and operated as a major company trust and was one of the world's first and largest multinational...
.
In 1929 Mosconi received Edmundo Castillo, Uruguay's Minister of Industry, and counseled him about the establishment of a national refinery and a state corporation to sell its products. This led to the creation of ANCAP (Administración Nacional de Combustibles, Alcohol y Portland), the state energy corporation created by the Uruguayan government in 1931.
In 1936, after the Chaco War, the state of Bolivia created Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB) after the model of the Argentine company, and soon afterward it dictated the expropriation of the Bolivian Standard Oil Company.
In 1938 the same ideas led to the Conselho Nacional do Petróleo (CNP). That year Mosconi was awarded a medal by the Academy of Science and Art of Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, in recognition for his work.
Mosconi today
Though Mosconi's ideas about energy independence did not survive long, YPF stood as Argentina's state oil company until 1999, when it was privatizedPrivatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
by order of President Carlos Menem
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem is an Argentine politician who was President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. He is currently an Argentine National Senator for La Rioja Province.-Early life:...
.
A town in Salta
Salta Province
Salta is a province of Argentina, located in the northwest of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the east clockwise Formosa, Chaco, Santiago del Estero, Tucumán and Catamarca. It also surrounds Jujuy...
, is named General Enrique Mosconi, as well as a nearby airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
in Tartagal
Tartagal, Salta
Tartagal is a city in the north of the , 365 km from the provincial capital. It has over 60,000 inhabitants as per the , and it is the head town of the General José de San Martín Department...
. This town became known in the Argentine national stage in 2001 due to a serious conflict between the government and groups of piquetero
Piquetero
A piquetero is a member of a political faction whose primary modus operandi is based in the piquete. The piquete is an action by which a group of people blocks a road or street with the purpose of demonstrating and calling attention over a particular issue or demand...
s, workers left unemployed in part by the downsizing of oil exploitation in the area after the privatization of YPF.
In 1983 the "General Mosconi" Argentine Institute of Energy was founded. It is a non-profit organization devoted "to promote a rational exploitation of energy resources and developing its related activities for the good interests of the population".
In the city of Comodoro Rivadavia
Comodoro Rivadavia
Comodoro Rivadavia is a city in the Patagonian province of Chubut in southern Argentina, located on the San Jorge Gulf, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, at the foot of the Chenque Hill. Comodoro Rivadavia is the most important city of the San Jorge Basin....
, Chubut
Chubut Province
Chubut a province in the southern part of Argentina situated between the 42nd parallel south and the 46th parallel south , the Andes range separating Argentina from Chile, and the Atlantic ocean...
, there is a neighbourhood
General Mosconi neighbourhood
The General Mosconi neighbourhood is located three kilometres away from the downtown of Comodoro Rivadavia to the north, in Chubut, Argentina.There are several monuments commemorating important figures such as General Enrique Mosconi...
which was named after the engineer.
Sources
- Historia de los Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales: Biografía de Mosconi (in Spanish)
- Publicly-accessible email message, citing another (unspecified) webpage. Lista de correo electrónico Reconquista-Popular (email list information, in Spanish). Retrieved from http://archives.econ.utah.edu/archives/reconquista-popular/2004w31/msg00079.htm at 16:50, 17 September 2005 (UTC).
- Short biography (in Spanish).