This article highlights the marks left on international law by Iran’s and Algeria’s early, and mid-20th century paths to re-claiming sovereignty over their petroleum reserves. It shows that Iran has significantly affected the contractual model of petroleum operations, whereas Algeria has championed the international law turn of third world internationalism. It thus hopes to shift attention from the frequently cited non-consequentialism of key moments in Third World Internationalism, such as Bandung and the NIEO to the significance of these domestic and transnational processes. While so doing, it is careful to point to the extraordinary bargaining power given to petro-states by the fossil-fuel dependent global economy, which elevated their influence in global affairs over that of other states in the Global South.