How big is "Big Oil"?

How big is "Big Oil"? That is the question I asked myself after seeing other members repeatedly blame our energy problems on ''big oil.''

While searching for my answer, I came across this website. It lists, as of 2006, the 50 largest oil companies in the world using the number of total reserves in oil equivalent barrels (OEB) by combining liquids reserves and natural gas reserves.

Below are some results that I found surprising:

There are only eight American owned oil companies in the top 50.
National Iranian Oil Co. is the world's largest with 302,496,000,000 in OEB.
Exxon/Mobil is the 17th largest in the world with 13,746,000,000 in OEB.
It would take 22 Exxon/Mobils just to equal Iran, alone.

(ranking in America) (ranking in the world)

(1)(17) Exxon Mobil...................... 13,746,000,000 OEB
(2)(20) Chevron Corporation....... 11,720,000,000 OEB
(3)(21) Conoco Phillips................. 11,283,000,000 OEB
(4)(33) Anadarko Petroleum.......... 3,056,000,000 OEB
(5)(34) Occidental Petroleum......... 2,915,000,000 OEB
(6)(37) Devon Energy.................... 2,411,000,000 OEB
(7)(38) Apache Corp...................... 2,345,000,000 OEB
(8)(47) Hess Corp.......................... 1,254,000,000 OEB

If you combine the total reserves of the 8 American companies in the top 50, the amount is only 1/6 of the reserves of The Iranian National Oil Company.


Here's a short comparison using liquid reserves only:

Saudi Arabian Oil Company is the world's largest with 259,400,000,000 OEB
ExxonMobil has 8,194,000,000 OEB
It would take 31 ExxonMobils to equal The Saudi Arabian Oil Company.
If you combine the total reserves of the 8 American companies in the top 50, the amount is only 1/11 of the reserves of the Saudi Arabian Oil Company.

Maybe this information will give some perspective on how much influence big oil has on energy prices.



[edit on 19-6-2008 by Boone 870]

[edit on 19-6-2008 by Boone 870]

[edit on 20-6-2008 by Boone 870]