Vikram Saxena

Can Big Oil Balance Shareholder Interest Against National Interest?

NRGee:

The smaller oil companies operate under the umbrella of policies strongly influenced by Big Oil; hence the focus on Big Oil since they determine the industry environment.

sharksm and paulk8756:
Oil is the largest industry in the world and that kind of money brings in immense amount of political power. Big Oil has shaped our energy, and specifically transportation policy; they have successfully killed alternatives which challenge the internal combustion engine. Our dependence on foreign oil also meant that oil plays a key role in determining our foreign policy; whether it is engineering successful coups (Iran in 1953) or failed coups (Venezuela in 2002) or permanent military bases in the Middle East, oil industry is backed by the full diplomatic, and military muscle of the United States.

Big Oil in the US works with many of the benefits of nationalized oil company, with few of the responsibilities that comes with it. Over the past decade oil companies from other parts from the world went out to seek new oil fields; on the other hand, Big Oil has seen its reserves deplete as it refrained from making investments in new exploration. While oil prices jumped up 4x in the past few years, Big Oil keeps on returning capital to shareholders.

Big Oil has put us between a rock and a hard place: one hand they have tried their best to kill any threat to internal combustion engine, on the other hand they have reduced their investments in finding new oil. Big Oil has essentially dumped the American people at the altar, while they wait and watch how energy markets develop.