what are Rents

Ricardo's economic theory that the value of the products of different geographical properties varies without reference to the work put into exploiting them. Whether the landlord (the oil-producing country granting concessions) or the tenant (the oil companies, risking capital to explore and produce) deserves to profit from the increased value of the land is widely debated in the oil industry. Rents were first set as a 50/50 split, but to gain entry new companies began agreeing to smaller cuts, and eventually nationalization swept away the entire approach.