•Oil extraction is often assumed to negatively affect indigenous livelihoods.•To test this, we use a unique longitudinal dataset from the Ecuadorian Amazon.•We examine the effects of two measures of oil exposure on five livelihood outcomes.•Oil activities had both positive and negative effects on livelihoods.•The results only partly support hypotheses from the Dutch disease literature. Globally, the extraction of minerals and fossil fuels is increasingly penetrating into isolated regions inhabited by indigenous peoples, potentially undermining their livelihoods and well-being. To provide new insight to this issue, we draw on a unique longitudinal dataset collected in the Ecuadorian Amazon over an 11-year period from 484 indigenous households with varying degrees of exposure to oil extraction. Fixed and random effects regression models of the consequences of oil activities for livelihood outcomes reveal mixed and multidimensional effects. These results challenge common assumptions about these processes and are only partly consistent with hypotheses drawn from the Dutch disease literature.