Who are the "Big 5" in oil production?

[kentuck]

I guess Exxon-Mobil would be #1? Texaco? Conoco? Phillips 66? Does anyone know?

And how many companies were competing before they became the Big 5? Doesn't it make sense that there would be less competition with 5 companies as opposed to 15 or 20?

Should these companies be broken up into 3 or 4 companies each, for competitive purposes? Obviously the merging of Exxon-Mobil and other big oil companies has not helped the consumer in any way we can see.

[Democrats_win]

1. There's history behind this. Starts with the seven sisters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Sisters_%28oil_companies%29

-snip
Following the break up by the US Government of Standard Oil, several new companies were created, three of which, along with four other major oil companies, were once referred to as the Seven Sisters, coined by an Italian entrepreneur, Enrico Mattei. With their virtual monopoly on oil production, refinement and distribution, they were able to take advantage of the rapidly increasing demands for oil and turn massive profits. Being well organized and able to negotiate as a cartel, they were able to have their way in most Third World oil producers. It was only when the Arab states began to gain control over oil prices and production that the Seven Sisters' influence declined....

As of 2005, the surviving companies are ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and BP.
---

Another source: from Sept. 2004
http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2004/09/27/story4.html

More than $1 trillion worth of mergers since 1984 has left five oil companies - Exxon Mobil Corp., ChevronTexaco Corp., ConocoPhillips Co., BP Plc. and Royal Dutch Petroleum Co. - with a majority control of the U.S. gasoline market.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

2. Merge them all.

Corporations have our best interests at heart.

/

[Robbien]

3. Three are US owned

Exxon, Conoco & Chevron

Shell is UK
and BP is France

[stillcool]

4. British Petroleum is France?.....

edit to add a link to a list of oil companies...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_petroleum_companies

[Robbien]

5. My mistake. BP is registered in the UK

It was the one who took over Amoco.

[stillcool]

7. the way these companies merge and morph...

anythings possible :shrug:

[CatholicEdHead]

11. And Arco

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. A lot of production is done by nationalised companies

But the world's biggest public oil companies, by sales, are:

ExxonMobil $328b
Shell $307b (Dutch; used to be Dutch/British, but relocated for tax purposes)
BP $249b (British)
Chevron $185b
ConocoPhillips $162b
Total $145b (French)

From Forbes

[trof]

8. Any idea what happened to Texaco?

Originally TEXAs COmpany, if I remember right.
I think it was, for a long time, the only totally U.S. produced oil co.

[northzax]

9. bought by Chevron

a couple of years ago.

[Robbien]

10. True. Bloomberg is saying Russia's Gazprom is now at $259b

beating out BP

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000085&sid=akUEPVuvH6hg&refer=europe

and who knows what China's oil company is worth.