# Sultan of Brunei: why does he personally own all that oil? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 7, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sultan-of-brunei-why-does-he-personally-own-all-that-oil/640257 "2012-11-07T18:47:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sultan-of-brunei-why-does-he-personally-own-all-that-oil/640257/1 "2012-11-07T18:47:02Z")
The Sultan of Brunei was, at various times in the past, cited as the richest man in the world. How did it happen that he personally owns that wealth, instead of it belonging to the country? The British government apparently made the Sultan absolute monarch when Brunei became independent, why did they do that? ---
**Author:** ![lisiate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f05b48/32.png) [@lisiate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lisiate)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sultan-of-brunei-why-does-he-personally-own-all-that-oil/640257/2 "2012-11-07T20:46:21Z")
Brunei was an absolute monarchy when it became a British protectorate in the 19th century and the Sultan’s status has never really changed. It’s not all bad for the locals though, Bruneians rank fairly high on the GDP per capita and Human Development Index tables. ---
**Author:** ![Rusalka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ecd19e/32.png) [@Rusalka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rusalka)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sultan-of-brunei-why-does-he-personally-own-all-that-oil/640257/3 "2012-11-07T22:37:24Z")
How did he become the owner of all that oil? Even absolute monarchs don’t own everything. Sorry if this is a naive question. Oil was developed during the British protectorate, so I’m curious how the family got their hands on the rights personally instead of the oil going to the state in general ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sultan-of-brunei-why-does-he-personally-own-all-that-oil/640257/4 "2012-11-07T23:03:03Z")
> [@Rusalka](#): > > How did he become the owner of all that oil? Even absolute monarchs don’t own everything. Sorry if this is a naive question. Oil was developed during the British protectorate, so I’m curious how the family got their hands on the rights personally instead of the oil going to the state in general When you \*are \*the state, the difference is not important. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sultan-of-brunei-why-does-he-personally-own-all-that-oil/640257/5 "2012-11-07T23:13:48Z")
Exactly. When a ruler can take whatever he wants, whenever he wants, private property is just a fiction. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sultan-of-brunei-why-does-he-personally-own-all-that-oil/640257/6 "2012-11-07T23:16:01Z")
> [@Rusalka](#): > > Even absolute monarchs don’t own everything. That’s part of what the “absolute” entails. It’s his to do what he will with. Granted, if he makes the people unhappy enough, there will likely be some kind of civil war or coup or something. But in the absence of that it’s hard to say that he doesn’t own everything the state owns. ---
**Author:** ![GreasyJack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/df705f/32.png) [@GreasyJack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreasyJack)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sultan-of-brunei-why-does-he-personally-own-all-that-oil/640257/7 "2012-11-07T23:34:31Z")
Privately-held subsurface mineral rights are far more rare overseas than they are in the US and Canada. The more common situation is that the state holds all of them and private companies and individuals can only lease them out. The state being the plaything of a single somewhat eccentric individual is unusual, but the state owning all the mineral rights in a country is not.