big Oil

{{Short description|Largest publicly traded oil and gas companies, also known as supermajors}}

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| image1=2008- Oil and gas industry global net income - IEA.svg |caption1=Globally, net income of the oil and gas industry reached a record US$4 trillion in 2022.{{cite web |title=World Energy Investment 2023 |url=https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/8834d3af-af60-4df0-9643-72e2684f7221/WorldEnergyInvestment2023.pdf |publisher=International Energy Agency |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230807064513/https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/8834d3af-af60-4df0-9643-72e2684f7221/WorldEnergyInvestment2023.pdf |archive-date=7 August 2023 |page=61 |date=May 2023 |url-status=live }}{{bsn|reason=Not the proper source for this document|date=May 2025}}

| image2=2007- Profits of energy companies (annual) - stacked bar chart.svg |caption2=After the COVID-19 pandemic, energy company profits increased with higher fuel prices resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine, falling debt levels, tax write-downs of projects shut down in Russia, and backing off from earlier plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.{{cite news |last1=Bousso |first1=Ron |title=Big Oil doubles profits in blockbuster 2022 |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/big-oil-doubles-profits-blockbuster-2022-2023-02-08/ |work=Reuters |date=8 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230331215451/https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/big-oil-doubles-profits-blockbuster-2022-2023-02-08/ |archive-date=31 March 2023 |url-status=live }} {{*}} Details for 2020 from the more detailed diagram in {{cite news |last1=King |first1=Ben |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64583982 |title=Why are BP, Shell, and other oil giants making so much money right now? |work=BBC News |date=12 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230422164652/https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64583982 |archive-date=22 April 2023 |url-status=live }}

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Big Oil is a name sometimes used to describe the world's six or seven largest publicly traded and investor-owned oil and gas companies, also known as supermajors.{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-oilmajors-production-idUSL169721220080801|title=Oil majors' output growth hinges on strategy shift|access-date=28 April 2011|work=Reuters|date=1 August 2008|archive-date=13 May 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120513182259/http://www.reuters.com/article/2008/08/01/us-oilmajors-production-idUSL169721220080801|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/02/business/worldbusiness/02iht-shell.html|title=Shell will invest despite decline in earnings|access-date=28 April 2011|newspaper=The New York Times|date=2 February 2006}}{{cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2005-12-11/conocophillips-the-making-of-an-oil-major|access-date=1 April 2016|title=ConocoPhillips: The Making of an Oil Major|date=12 December 2005|work=Business Week}}Tom Nicholls (2005). Nafta. vol. 56. p. 447. "Whoever coined the term supermajor should have kept some superlatives in reserve. Oil companies may rank as some of the biggest private-sector corporations, but when it comes to oil ..."{{fcn|reason=Unclear what this source is and how to locate it to verify it|date=May 2025}} The term, particularly in the United States, emphasizes their economic power and influence on politics. Big Oil is often associated with the fossil fuels lobby and also used to refer to the industry as a whole in a pejorative or derogatory manner.{{cite magazine |url=https://time.com/archive/6854296/inside-the-big-oil-game/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240918180905/https://time.com/archive/6854296/inside-the-big-oil-game/ |archive-date=2024-09-18 |title=Inside the Big Oil Game |magazine=Time |date=7 May 1979 |access-date=11 May 2025}}

Sources conflict on the exact makeup of Big Oil today, though the companies which are most frequently mentioned as supermajors are ExxonMobil, Shell, TotalEnergies, BP, Chevron and Eni, with ConocoPhillips frequently being included as well prior to spinning off its downstream operations into Phillips 66. The phrase "Super-Major" emanated from a report published by Douglas Terreson of Morgan Stanley in February 1998. The report foretold a substantial consolidation phase of "Major" Oil companies which would result in a group of dominant "Super-Major" entities.{{Cite book |last=Högselius |first=Per |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KjdyDwAAQBAJ&dq=energy+and+geopolitics+big+oil+companies++Eni+total+BP&pg=PT80 |title=Energy and Geopolitics |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781351710282 |language=en |quote=In global oil parlance, it is common to talk about the 'seven supermajors' comprising ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP, Shell, Total and Eni. |access-date=9 July 2022}}{{Cite web |last=Reynolds |first=Ben |date=9 June 2022 |title=The 6 Big Oil Supermajor Stocks Ranked From Best To Worst |url=https://www.suredividend.com/big-oil-supermajors/ |access-date=1 September 2022 |website=Sure Dividend}}{{Cite web |last=OilNOW |date=29 August 2017 |title=The super-majors... what and who are they? |website=OilNOW |url=https://oilnow.gy/uncategorized/the-super-majors-what-and-who-are-they/ |access-date=1 September 2022 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Herold |first=Thomas |date=3 March 2017 |title=What are the Big Oil Super Majors? |url=https://www.financial-dictionary.info/terms/big-oil-super-majors/ |access-date=13 October 2022 |website=Herold Financial Dictionary |language=en-US}} Big Oil previously referred to seven oil companies which formed the Consortium for Iran; such "Seven Sisters" were the Anglo-Persian Oil Company (a predecessor of BP), Shell plc, three of Chevron's predecessors (Standard Oil of California, Gulf Oil and Texaco), and two of ExxonMobil's predecessors (Jersey Standard and Standard Oil of New York).

The term, analogous to others such as Big Steel, Big Tech, and Big Pharma which describe industries dominated by a few giant corporations, was popularized in print from the late 1960s.C. Wayne Barlow (1969). Corporate Packaging Management. "Even with the price ceilings, gas cost more than it had, prompting consumers to charge that 'Big Oil', and not the Arabs, had used the crisis to squeeze profits from oppressed consumers. Some thought that the oil companies got rich from the ..."{{fcn|reason=Unclear what this source is and how to locate it to verify it|date=May 2025}}{{cite book |first=Stephen D. |last=Krasner |year=1978 |title=Defending the National Interest: Raw Materials Investments and U.S. Foreign Policy |series=Center for International Affairs, Harvard University |publisher=Princeton University Press |doi=10.2307/j.ctv15r5858

|jstor=j.ctv15r5858 |page=330 |isbn=978-0-691-02182-9 |quote=Kennedy's Treasury Secretary, Douglas Dillon, was a director of Chase Manhattan Bank and thus tied to the Rockefellers and big oil. Nixon's campaigns were partly financed by oil money, and his Secretary of the Interior, Walter Hickel, was an ...}}{{verify inline|reason=Some details inferred from online sources. The abruptly truncated quotation is also not ideal|date=May 2025}} Today it is often used to refer specifically to the seven supermajors.{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of Business in Today's World |volume=1: A–C |page=174 |editor-first=Charles |editor-last=Wankel |year=2009 |quote=The older term Big Oil, used in reference to the cooperative behavior and lobbying of oil companies, is often used now to refer specifically to the supermajors. Each supermajor has revenues in the hundreds of billions of dollars, benefiting from ...}} The use of the term in the popular media often excludes the national producers and OPEC oil companies who have a much greater global role in setting prices than the supermajors.{{cite book |title=Green Energy: An A-to-Z Guide |page=331 |first=Dustin |last=Mulvaney |year=2011 |quote=... the oil majors have the power to manipulate oil prices, profiteering at the expense of consumers in North America and Europe. Although the term Big Oil is used in the media, it is not used to describe the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries ...}}{{cite book |title=Crude Reality: Petroleum in World History |first=Brian C. |last=Black |year=2012 |quote=Therefore, Big Oil included large-scale corporate infrastructure that spanned the globe without ever releasing the basic elements that titillated the public: fortune, danger, and bust. Today, the term Big Oil most likely evokes a negative visceral ...}}{{cite book |title=The Role of National Oil Companies in the International Oil Market |first=Robert |last=Pirog |year=2011 |quote=In the United States, the term 'big oil companies' is likely to be taken to mean the major private international oil companies, largely based in Europe or America. However, while some of those companies are indeed among the largest in the ...}}{{publisher needed|date=May 2025}} China's two state-owned oil companies, Sinopec and the China National Petroleum Corporation, as well as Saudi Aramco, had greater revenues in 2022 than any investor-owned oil company.{{cite web|title=Global 500 2020|url=http://fortune.com/global500/|website=Fortune|access-date=16 December 2020}}

In the maritime industry, six to seven large oil companies that decide a majority of the crude oil tanker chartering business are called "Oil Majors".{{cite news|title=TEN wins long-term suezmax charter with an oil major|url=http://www.lloydslist.com/ll/sector/tankers/article474631.ece|access-date=6 December 2015|work=Lloyds List|date=1 December 2015}}

History

= As the Seven Sisters =

The expression "Seven Sisters" was coined by the head of the Italian state oil company (Eni), Enrico Mattei,{{cite web |url=https://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/471ae1b8-d001-11db-94cb-000b5df10621.html#axzz3KSBXAvfZ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221212001245/https://www.ft.com/content/471ae1b8-d001-11db-94cb-000b5df10621#axzz3KSBXAvfZ |archive-date=12 December 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=The new Seven Sisters: oil and gas giants dwarf western rivals |magazine=ft.com |date=12 March 2007 |access-date=23 October 2022 }} who sought membership for his company, but was rejected.

The history of the supermajors traces back to the seven oil companies which formed the "Consortium for Iran" cartel and dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the 1970s.[http://www.ft.com/cms/s/471ae1b8-d001-11db-94cb-000b5df10621.html The new Seven Sisters: oil and gas giants dwarf western rivals] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070819102045/http://www.ft.com/cms/s/471ae1b8-d001-11db-94cb-000b5df10621.html |date=19 August 2007 }}, by Carola Hoyos, Financial Times. 11 March 2007{{cite magazine|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946053-1,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090413085702/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946053-1,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=13 April 2009|title=Business: The Seven Sisters Still Rule|access-date=24 October 2010|magazine=Time|date=11 September 1978}} The Seven Sisters were:

Anglo-Persian Oil Company (BP)
Gulf Oil (Chevron)
Shell
Standard Oil of California (Chevron)
Standard Oil of New Jersey (Exxon, later ExxonMobil)
Standard Oil of New York (Mobil, later ExxonMobil)
Texaco (Chevron)

By the 1930s, the Seven Sisters dominated oil production in the world.{{Cite book |last=Colgan |first=Jeff D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g3U-EAAAQBAJ |title=Partial Hegemony: Oil Politics and International Order |date=2021 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-754640-6 |pages=61–66 |language=en}} The companies owned nearly all rights to the oil in Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and the Persian Gulf. The companies established jointly owned companies (such as the Iraq Petroleum Company) to legally tie their hands together, facilitate cooperation, and prevent cheating on one another. The companies sought to limit the supply of oil by controlling the speed at which oil fields were developed. From the 1920s to 1940s, they had agreements not to produce oil in the Middle East unless it was in coordination with one another. After the 1940s, the companies continued to collude. The discovery of massive oil fields in Saudi Arabia threatened to scuttle the cartel, as control of the oil fields by two companies could undermine existing supply management schemes. However, the Saudi oil production ultimately became jointly controlled by four of the seven sisters, thus making it easier to maintain coordination between the Seven Sisters.

According to Jeff Colgan, the Seven Sisters faced two major problems. The first revolved around coordinating the activities of the companies so that oil prices would be kept high. The second revolved around cooperation with the governments of the territories containing the oil reserves: the companies sought to minimize the taxes and royalties paid to the governments. In terms of dealing with host governments, the Seven Sisters benefitted from the willingness of British and American governments to pressure and coerce the host governments. The oil companies also slowed down production when taxes and royalties were increased by one host government while ramping up production in other territories with lower taxes and royalties, thus pressuring host governments to keep taxes and royalties low.

Host governments faced a number of hurdles in terms of nationalizing the oil production. First, a number of oil-producing countries did not have independence and were controlled by empires. Second, great powers had installed compliant heads of state in several oil-producing countries, making those leaders reliant on the support of the great powers and unwilling to upset them. Third, a number of oil-producing countries lacked the capital and technical expertise to run the oil production, as well as needed access to North American and European markets. Fourth, oil-producing countries feared that they would be punished by Western governments and firms if they nationalized oil production (as Mohammad Mossadegh was when he nationalized the Iranian oil industry).

In 1951, Iran nationalized its oil industry, previously controlled by the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company (now BP), and Iranian oil was subjected to an international embargo. In an effort to bring Iranian oil production back to international markets, the U.S. State Department suggested the creation of a consortium of major oil companies, several of which were daughter corporations of John D. Rockefeller's original Standard Oil monopoly.{{cite book |last=Beltrame |first=Stefano |title=Mossadeq: L'Iran, il petrolio, gli Stati Uniti e le radici della Rivoluzione Islamica |publisher=Rubbettino |year=2009 |isbn=978-88-498-2533-6}}

In 1959, the Seven Sisters reduced the price of oil for Venezuela and Middle Eastern producers, which provoked anger among oil-producing governments.{{Cite book |last=Colgan |first=Jeff D. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g3U-EAAAQBAJ |title=Partial Hegemony: Oil Politics and International Order |date=2021 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-754640-6 |pages=70–72 |language=en}} This prompted the oil-producing governments to take the initial steps to establish OPEC. The Seven Sisters threatened the OPEC founders that they would lose market access if they went ahead with their plans.

The head of the Italian state oil company (Eni), Enrico Mattei, sought membership for his company, but was rejected and since then spread the expression "Seven Sisters".{{cite news |last=Hoyos |first=Carola |date=11 March 2007 |title=The new Seven Sisters: oil and gas giants dwarf western rivals |newspaper=Financial Times |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/471ae1b8-d001-11db-94cb-000b5df10621.html |access-date=20 October 2013}}{{cite news |date=14 June 1963 |title=Italy: Two-Timing the Seven Sisters |journal=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,874858,00.html |url-status=dead |access-date=23 April 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080213223741/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,874858,00.html |archive-date=13 February 2008}} British writer Anthony Sampson took over the term when he wrote the book The Seven Sisters in 1975, to describe the oil cartel that tried its best to eliminate competitors and keep control of the world's oil resource.{{cite book |last=Sampson |first=Anthony |url=https://archive.org/details/ony00samp |title=The Seven Sisters: The Great Oil Companies and the World They Shaped |publisher=Viking Press |year=1975 |isbn=0-553-20449-1 |location=New York |author-link=Anthony Sampson |url-access=registration}} The term for the oil cartel was further popularized, along with a fictional logo, in Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, a 1981 post-apocalyptic dystopian action film about apocalyptic fuel shortages.{{cite news |last=Ohanesian |first=Liz |date=23 May 2016 |title=Mad Max–Style Rides Reigned at This Post-Apocalyptic Car Show |newspaper=L.A. Weekly |url=http://www.laweekly.com/content/printView/6954398 |access-date=22 April 2017 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170422221211/https://www.laweekly.com/content/printView/6954398 |archivedate=22 April 2017}}

Being politically influential, vertically integrated, well organized, and able to negotiate cohesively as a cartel, the Seven Sisters were initially able to exert considerable power over Third World oil producers. Despite their market power, the Seven Sisters kept prices stable at moderate levels.{{Cite journal |last1=McFarland |first1=Victor |last2=Colgan |first2=Jeff D. |date=2022 |title=Oil and power: the effectiveness of state threats on markets |url=https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2021.2014931 |journal=Review of International Political Economy |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=487–510 |doi=10.1080/09692290.2021.2014931 |issn=0969-2290 |s2cid=245399635|url-access=subscription }} This was done to not incentivize governments in both the consumer and producer countries to impose regulations on the oil industry.

= 1973 oil crisis =

Preceding the 1973 oil crisis, the Seven Sisters controlled around 85 percent of the world's petroleum reserves.{{cite news |last=Mann |first=Ian |date=24 January 2010 |title=Shaky industry that runs the world |newspaper=The Times (South Africa) |url=http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/article272352.ece |url-status=dead |access-date=12 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100127022854/http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/article272352.ece |archive-date=27 January 2010}} In the 1970s, many countries with large reserves nationalized holdings of all major oil companies. Since then, industry dominance has shifted to the OPEC cartel and state-owned oil and gas companies in emerging-market economies, such as Saudi Aramco, Gazprom (Russia), China National Petroleum Corporation, National Iranian Oil Company, PDVSA (Venezuela), Petrobras (Brazil), and Petronas (Malaysia). In 2007, the Financial Times called these "the new Seven Sisters".{{cite news |last=Hoyos |first=Carola |date=11 March 2007 |title=The new Seven Sisters: oil and gas giants dwarf western rivals |newspaper=Financial Times |url=http://www.ft.com/cms/s/471ae1b8-d001-11db-94cb-000b5df10621.html |access-date=20 October 2013}}{{cite web |last=Vardi |first=Nicholas |date=28 March 2007 |title=The New Seven Sisters: Today's Most Powerful Energy Companies |url=http://seekingalpha.com/article/30922-the-new-seven-sisters-todays-most-powerful-energy-companies |access-date=12 April 2016 |publisher=Seeking Alpha}} According to consulting firm PFC Energy, by 2012 only 7% of the world's known oil reserves were in countries that allowed private international companies free rein. Fully 65% were in the hands of state-owned companies.{{cite news |last=Allen |first=David |date=26 April 2012 |title=Why Should Bahamas Be In 7% Oil Minority? |newspaper=The Tribune |url=http://www.tribune242.com/news/2012/apr/26/why-should-bahamas-be-in-7-oil-minority/ |access-date=23 April 2017}}{{cite news |last=Katakey |first=Rakteem |date=26 January 2017 |title=Oil Supermajors' Debt From the Crude Collapse May Have Peaked |publisher=Bloomberg News |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-01-26/big-oil-debt-tops-out-as-cost-cuts-combine-with-rally-in-prices |access-date=22 April 2017}}{{cite news |date=1 December 1998 |title=Slick Deal? |publisher=NewsHour with Jim Lehrer |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec98/oil_12-1.html |url-status=dead |access-date=20 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201217051137/https://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/july-dec98/oil_12-1.html |archive-date=17 December 2020}}

== "The Era of the Super-Major" ==

"The Era of the Super Major" was an industry report published by Douglas Terreson of Morgan Stanley on 13 February 1998. Terreson was the top-rated Integrated Oil analyst according to Institutional Investor magazine at the time and had a broad following within the global investment community. After many years of poor industry performance by the Energy sector, Terreson suggested that business models had become obsolete, and that major strategic change was needed across the global Energy sector for value propositions to become competitive with the other parts of the market.

The premise of the report was that "a confluence of industry dynamics would conspire to produce a strategic and financial environment that was conducive to major consolidation activity in the Integrated Oil sector. Significant modifications to the strategic landscape would result, dictating competitive placement and equity market performance for years to come". The report indicated that the phase would be driven by the competitive implications of: (1) the globalization of privatized national oil companies and (2) the rising stature of specialized multinationals. Combinations were expected primarily between Major Oils which would then become "Super-Majors" which was a phrase created at Morgan Stanley in the late 1990s to denote the prototype model for success in the Integrated Oil industry as gains in globalization and scale unfolded.

Within 6 months of publication of "The Era of the Super-Major", BP and Amoco merged, representing the largest industrial combination on Wall Street at that time. The combined value of the stocks of those 2 companies rose significantly and that merger was followed by ExxonMobil, BP-Amoco-Arco, ConocoPhillips, Chevron-Texaco-Unocal, Total-Petrofina-Elf and others. The phase represented one of the largest consolidation phases in the history of the Energy sector. Corporate performance was very positive in Energy through 2007, underscoring the premise that the "Super-Major" thesis would create significant economic value for shareholders:

Exxon and Mobil merging to form ExxonMobil in 1999
Total's merger with Petrofina in 1999 and with Elf Aquitaine in 2000, with the resulting company subsequently renamed Total (now TotalEnergies)
BP's acquisitions of Amoco in 1998 and of ARCO in 2000
Chevron's merger with Texaco in 2001
Conoco and Phillips Petroleum Company merging in 2002 to form ConocoPhillips

This process of consolidation created some of the largest global corporations as defined by the Forbes Global 2000 ranking, and as of 2007 all were within the top 25. Between 2004 and 2007 the profits of the six supermajors totaled US$494.8 billion.[https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2008/ "Global 500"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711040327/https://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2008/ |date=11 July 2018 }}. Fortune. Accessed August 2008. Many of these now-merged companies remain in the Fortune Global 500, with ExxonMobil ranking 12th, Total ranking 27th, BP ranking 35th, and Chevron ranking 37th in the 2022 edition of the list.{{Cite web |title=Global 500 |url=https://fortune.com/global500/2022/ |access-date=16 August 2022 |website=Fortune |language=en}}

Present composition

The composition of Big Oil is subject to wide debate. Nearly all accounts of Big Oil include ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, Eni and TotalEnergies. All six of these companies are vertically integrated within the industry and operate upstream, midstream, and downstream.

= Possible inclusions =

== ConocoPhillips ==

ConocoPhillips is less frequently counted as one of the Big Oil companies due to spinning off its downstream division into Phillips 66.{{Cite web |last=Herold |first=Thomas |date=3 March 2017 |title=What are the Big Oil Super Majors? |url=https://www.financial-dictionary.info/terms/big-oil-super-majors/ |access-date=1 September 2022 |website=Herold Financial Dictionary |language=en-US}} Additionally, ConocoPhillips in 2022 ranked lower than any of the six major Big Oil companies on the Fortune Global 500, and its revenue was superseded by Phillips 66 in 2022.{{Cite web |title=Global 500 |url=https://fortune.com/global500/2022/ |access-date=26 August 2022 |website=Fortune |language=en}}

== Valero ==

Valero Energy ranked higher on the 2022 Fortune Global 500 than Eni, though the company frequently touts that it is an independent refiner focused on midstream and downstream operations which does not have significant upstream activities.{{Cite web |last=Chenevey |first=Yoshie |date=28 January 2022 |title=What Valero Owns? |url=https://sport-net.org/what-valero-owns/ |access-date=1 September 2022 |website=Sport-net : Your #1 source for sports information and updates |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=Our History |url=https://www.valero.com/about/our-history |access-date=1 September 2022 |website=Valero |language=en}} In the media, however, Valero is sometimes called a "Big Oil" company and grouped with the other large companies.{{Cite web |date=27 January 2022 |title=Big Oil's New Ad Campaign Is 'One of the Creepiest' It's Ever Made |url=https://gizmodo.com/valero-essential-for-live-climate-change-1848385742 |access-date=1 September 2022 |website=Gizmodo |language=en-us}}{{Cite web |last=Johnson |first=Jake |date=29 July 2022 |title=Major handouts could make Big Oil companies the biggest "beneficiaries" of Manchin's climate deal |url=https://www.salon.com/2022/07/29/major-handouts-could-make-big-oil-companies-the-biggest-beneficiaries-of-manchins-climate-deal_partner/ |access-date=1 September 2022 |website=Salon |language=en}}

Influence

{{See also|The Power of Big Oil|2021–2022 United States House of Representatives investigation into the fossil fuels industry}}

As a group, the supermajors control around 6% of global oil and gas reserves. Conversely, 88% of global oil and gas reserves are controlled by the OPEC cartel and state-owned oil companies, primarily located in the Middle East.{{cite web | author=Energy Information Administration | title=Who are the major players supplying the world oil market? | year=2009 | url=http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/energy_in_brief/world_oil_market.cfm}} A trend of increasing influence of the OPEC cartel, state-owned oil companies{{cite news|url=http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/article272352.ece|title=Shaky industry that runs the world|access-date=26 October 2010|work=The Times |location=South Africa|date=24 January 2010|archive-date=27 January 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100127022854/http://www.timeslive.co.za/opinion/columnists/article272352.ece|url-status=dead}} in emerging-market economies is shown and the Financial Times has used the label "The New Seven Sisters" to refer to a group of what it argues are the most influential national oil and gas companies based in countries outside of the OECD, namely CNPC, Gazprom (Russia), National Iranian Oil Company (Iran), Petrobras (Brazil), PDVSA (Venezuela), Petronas (Malaysia), and Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia).{{cite news |url=http://www.ypenergy.org/history/ |title=New and Old Leaders in the Upstream Oil Industry |access-date=20 January 2012 |publisher=ypenergy.org |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111222183241/http://www.ypenergy.org/history/ |archive-date=22 December 2011 }}{{cite news|url=https://www.ft.com/content/471ae1b8-d001-11db-94cb-000b5df10621|title=New and Old Leaders in the Upstream Oil Industry |first=Carola |last=Hoyos |date=11 March 2007|access-date=11 May 2025 |work=Financial Times}}

Other companies not directly involved in trading oil and gas, but still supplying accessories such as drilling, fracking and refining equipment, have also been associated with Big Oil due to their political influence. In particular, Koch Industries{{cite news |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2012/05/fact-checkers-get-in-on-kochs-big-oil-label-debate-076248 |title=Fact-checkers and Kochs' 'Big Oil' |first=Bob |last=King |date= 13 May 2012 | work=Politico}}{{cite web |url=https://archive.thinkprogress.org/what-makes-koch-industries-big-oil-and-why-you-shouldn-t-believe-the-claims-saying-it-isn-t-b5de5084ed86/ |title=What Makes Koch Industries 'Big Oil' And Why You Shouldn't Believe The Claims Saying It Isn't |first=Rebecca |last=Leber |date=14 May 2012 |publisher=ThinkProgress}}{{cite news |url=https://www.newsroom.co.nz/what-we-now-know-they-lied-how-big-oil-companies-betrayed-us-all |title='What we now know … they lied': how big oil companies betrayed us all |first=Rod |last=Oram |author-link=Rod Oram |date=26 April 2022 |work=Newsroom }}{{cite news| url=https://cleantechnica.com/2022/04/25/big-oil-pbs-frontline-series-on-an-industry-that-lies-to-get-what-it-wants/ |title=Big Oil – PBS Frontline Series On An Industry That Lies To Get What It Wants |first=Steve |last=Hanley |date=25 April 2022 |work=CleanTechnica}} and Wilks Masonry{{cite news |url=https://prospect.org/power/meet-billionaire-brothers-never-heard-fund-religious-right/ |title=Meet the Billionaire Brothers You Never Heard of Who Fund the Religious Right |first=Peter |last=Montgomery |date=13 June 2014 |publisher=American Prospect}}{{cite web |url=https://public-accountability.org/report/the-money-behind-empower-texans/ |title=The Money Behind Empower Texans |first1=Derek |last1=Seidman |first2=Molly |last2=Gott |date=25 September 2019 |publisher=Public Accountability Initiative}}{{cite news |last1=Gruley |first1=Bryan |first2=Kevin |last2=Crowley |first3=Rachel |last3=Adams-Heard |first4=David |last4=Wethe |date=20 July 2020 |title=Frackers Are in Crisis, Endangering America's Energy Renaissance |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2020-07-21/u-s-oil-shale-industry-faces-extinction-amid-shutdowns |work=Bloomberg News}} have actively funded lobby groups, think tanks and media outlets aligned with Big Oil.

Maritime oil majors

In the maritime industry, a group of six companies that control the chartering of the majority of oil tankers worldwide are together referred to as "oil majors".{{cite web|title=Meaning of an 'Oil major' and 'Recognised Oil Majors' |url=http://www.lawandsea.net/CP_Time/Charterparty_Time_Majors_Approval_2Meaning_of_Oil_major.html|work=Law and the Sea|access-date=6 December 2015}}{{dead link|date=May 2025}} These are: Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, Chevron, TotalEnergies and ConocoPhillips.{{cite BAILII|litigants=Dolphin Tanker Srl v Westport Petroleum Inc (The Savina Caylyn) |year=2010 |court=EWHC |num=2617 |division=Comm |date=21 October 2010}}{{cite magazine|last1=Helman|first1=Christopher|title=The World's Biggest Oil And Gas Companies - 2015|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2015/03/19/the-worlds-biggest-oil-and-gas-companies/|access-date=6 December 2015|magazine=Forbes|date=19 March 2015}} Charter parties such as Shelltime 4 frequently mention the phrase "oil major".{{cite web|last1=McInnes|first1=David|title=Legal aspects of oil major approvals in oil tanker charter parties|url=http://www.lmaa.london|website=www.lmaa.london|publisher=Ince & Co.|access-date=6 December 2015}}{{nonspecific|reason=URL is of the home page, not this document|date=May 2025}}

Notes

References

External links

[https://www.pbs.org/now/shows/224/ "Crude Awakening"], NOW, week of 16 June 2006.
[http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2005/09/02/big_oils_bigtime_looting/ "Big Oil's bigtime looting"], editorial from the Boston Globe, 2 September 2005.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20051219182831/http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.asp?Feed=OBR&Date=20051023&ID=5213814 "Big Oil bears brunt over gas prices"], Reuters, 23 October 2005.
[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna9970294 "In heated hearings, oil bosses defend big profits"], Associated Press (via CNN), 9 November 2005.
[http://www.petrostrategies.org/Links/worlds_largest_oil_and_gas_companies.htm List of World's Largest Oil and Gas Companies Ranked by Reserves]

Category:Anti-corporate activism

Category:Multinational oil companies

Category:Petroleum economics