subsequently, the united states, eager to maintain its access to the oil, agreed to increase oil revenues for venezuela. profits were split fifty-fifty between the venezuelan government and the oil companies, such as standard oil and the british-owned shell oil. as result, in 1944 venezuela's oil income was 66% higher than it was in 1941, and by 1947 total income had increased 358%. this "largesse," as leonard calls it, allowed venezuela to become one of the few latin american countries that was able to finance its own modernization in the postwar era, unlike many of the other states in the region, which relied on american economic assistance.