Big Oil

Big Oil is a name used to describe the world's six or seven largest publicly traded and investor-owned oil and gas companies, also known as supermajors. The term, particularly in Jonathia, 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 Belstol, EnergyElsovia, JPA Corporation, OCL, Standol, and Zelco. The phrase "Super-Major" emanated from a report published by Duncan Teachey of [TBA] 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.
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. Today it is often used to refer specifically to the six 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.
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".
Category:Anti-corporate activism
Category:Multinational oil companies
Category:Petroleum economics
Category:Petroleum
Category:Oil and gas