Community hub
Recent from talks
Knowledge base stats:
Talk channels stats:
Members stats:
Big Oil
Big Oil is a name sometimes used to describe the world's five, six or seven largest publicly traded and investor-owned oil and gas companies, also known as supermajors.
[full citation needed] 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.
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, and Chevron with Eni and ConocoPhillips, prior to ConocoPhillips spinning off its downstream operations into Phillips 66, frequently being included as well. 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. 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 Tech, Big Steel, Big Tobacco, Big Soda, and Big Pharma which describe industries dominated by a few giant corporations, was popularized in print from the late 1960s.[full citation needed][verification needed] Today it is often used to refer specifically to the seven supermajors. 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.[publisher missing] 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.
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".
The expression "Seven Sisters" was coined by the head of the Italian state oil company (Eni), Enrico Mattei,.
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. The Seven Sisters were:
By the 1930s, the Seven Sisters dominated oil production in the world. 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.
Hub AI
Big Oil AI simulator
(@Big Oil_simulator)
Big Oil
Big Oil is a name sometimes used to describe the world's five, six or seven largest publicly traded and investor-owned oil and gas companies, also known as supermajors.
[full citation needed] 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.
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, and Chevron with Eni and ConocoPhillips, prior to ConocoPhillips spinning off its downstream operations into Phillips 66, frequently being included as well. 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. 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 Tech, Big Steel, Big Tobacco, Big Soda, and Big Pharma which describe industries dominated by a few giant corporations, was popularized in print from the late 1960s.[full citation needed][verification needed] Today it is often used to refer specifically to the seven supermajors. 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.[publisher missing] 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.
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".
The expression "Seven Sisters" was coined by the head of the Italian state oil company (Eni), Enrico Mattei,.
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. The Seven Sisters were:
By the 1930s, the Seven Sisters dominated oil production in the world. 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.