Under the new code of 1909-1910, several new contracts were made. A roving concession was granted to John Allen Tregelles, an Englishman, to explore the whole northern part of Venezuela. He located and started to drill a well near Cumaná, but without result. The rest of his concession lapsed, after a period of two years, through non-performance. The next important concession under the code of 1909-1910 was granted to the Bermúdez Company which obtained a small area, not covered by the Tregelles concession; their efforts were rewarded with more success. The Pauji Company, a local organization, also obtained a concession for a small area, but their efforts met with but small success.
On the second of January, 1912, the Caribbean Petroleum Company started the first solid work in the exploitation of the petroleum fields. They obtained permission to explore over 1,000 different sections and was the first company to achieve substantial success. Drilling was begun in 1914, and three wells in Mene Grande, state of Zulia, and one in Perija turned out to be successful. In the same year the "Venezuelan Oil Concessions, Ltd.," a British corporation, drilled a successful well near Cabimas, and the "Colón Development Company," also a British concern, struck oil near the Río de Oro.
The law of 1915 showed that the government was exhibiting a tendency to exert a controlling influence, much more than before, over the various oil fields. It was found no longer possible to obtain the enormous concessions that had heretofore been granted.
In 1918 still another new law was enacted. Just about this time greater interest was being displayed in Venezuelan petroleum, a condition brought about through the operation of the economic law of supply and demand. The European War, and the failure of some of the most important Mexican fields had a great deal to do with the shortage. The world naturally looked for new petroleum fields, and Venezuela seemed to be among the most promising prospects. Pursuant to the 1918 law, an Executive Decree was formulated on October 9, 1918, establishing the conditions required to explore and exploit petroleum, granting to prospectors all the necessary facilities, and, in a word, securing for Venezuela the efficient and profitable exploitation of her valuable deposits. In pursuance to said decree, the Fomento Department having passed several resolutions, opened for bids the zones which were free in the states of Zulia, Táchira, Trujillo, Mérida, Falcón, and Sucre.
In the spring of 1919 sixty-four contracts were made with the government by various interests, as follows:
1. West India Oil Company (Branch of Standard Oil Company.)
2. The Sun Oil Company, with subsidiaries as follows:
- a. Venezuela Oil Fields, Lt'd.
- b. Venezuelan Sun, Lt'd.
- c. Sucre Oil Fields, Lt'd.
- d. Trujillo Oil Fields, Lt'd.
- e. Merida Oil Fields, Lt'd.
3. Maracaibo Oil Exploitation Company with subsidiaries as follows:
- a. Mara Exploitation Company.
- b. Miranda Exploitation Company.
- c. Perija Exploitation Company.
- d. Paez Exploitation Company.