Really Big Oil

[Jayson Funke <jfunke@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Really Big Oil

"WHEN activists, journalists and others speak of "Big Oil", you know
exactly what they mean: companies such as Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP and
Royal Dutch Shell. These titans have been making lots of money for their
shareholders; their bosses enjoy vast pay packets; and their actions
affect us all. BP's decision to shut down Prudhoe Bay, America's biggest
oilfield, to repair leaking pipes is a case in point, outraging many and
pushing petrol prices even higher.

Yet Big Oil is pretty small next to the industry's true giants: the
national oil companies (NOCs) owned or controlled by the governments of
oil-rich countries, which manage over 90% of the world's oil, depending
on how you count. Of the 20 biggest oil firms, in terms of reserves of
oil and gas, 16 are NOCs. Saudi Aramco, the biggest, has more than ten
times the reserves that Exxon does. Those with misgivings about oil-that
its price is too high, that reserves are running out, that it damages
the environment, that it is more a curse than an asset for countries
that produce it-must look to NOCs for reassurance."

Full at: http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=7276986

Economist says: "Yet Big Oil is pretty small next to the industry's true
giants: the national oil companies (NOCs) owned or controlled by the
governments of oil-rich countries, which manage over 90% of the world's
oil, depending on how you count."

Would anyone care to guess how the Economist counted and arrived at this
figure?


Jayson Funke

Graduate School of Geography
Clark University
950 Main Street
Worcester, MA 01610