"Seven Sisters" have become "Five Little Brothers"
by Kjell Aleklett
One upon a time there were ”the seven sisters” as the large oil companies were once called. We can identify them by the following well known names, Esso, Shell, BP, Mobil, Chevron, Gulf and Texaco (Wikipedia). After the Second World War the oil industry was dominated by these companies. Their power was so great that governments around the world bent to their will and the expression, “Big Oil” was coined.
During the years since, the smaller oil companies have been bought out and a couple of the sisters have married, the best known example being the merger of Esso and Mobil to form ExxonMobil. Many believe that these companies still have power over oil so “Big Oil” is now blamed for the high oil price. In the USA the politicians became so upset that they summoned the remains of the seven sisters to a Senate hearing.
For many it came as a shock that Big Oil had transformed into the ”five little brothers”. Today, the world’s seven largest oil companies are completely outside the Senate’s control. Those that today hold the conductor’s baton for oil are: Saudi Aramco (Saudi Arabia), NIOC (Iran), NOC (Iraq), KPC (Kuwait), ADNOC (United Arab Emirates), PDVSA (Venezuela) and NOC (Libya). When considering natural gas, (that has increasing importance for energy security) there are an additional two companies that force their way in amongst the seven largest: Gazprom (Russia) and Qatar Pet (Kuwait). All these companies are controlled by their national governments.
When the company directors sat lined up in the Senate hearing they very much gave the impression of being just ”five little brothers” and their power over oil was clearly evident by its absence.
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