Who Owns ‘Big Oil'? Not Who You Think

The attempts to continually demonize "big oil" are getting out of hand thanks to the MSM and certain active and very vocal groups. Its time for a reality check like or not. This is the reality of it all...

Armed with a Power Point presentation to illustrate the state of American energy, John Felmy, chief economist at the American Petroleum Institute (API), said the majority of “big oil” and natural gas ownership is in good hands – the hands of the American people.

According to a report published in 2007 by Sonecon, an economic advisory firm that analyses U.S. markets and public policy, corporate management owns only 1.5 percent of the U.S. oil and natural gas industry.

The rest is owned by tens of millions of Americans through retirement accounts (14 percent) and pension funds (26 percent). Mutual funds or other firms account for 29.5 percent ownership and individual investors own 23 percent of oil stock holdings.

Institutional investors hold the remaining 5 percent.

More reality that you won't read anywhere else.

As for the profits made by U.S. oil and natural gas companies that have been cited by congressional Democrats as reason to end tax incentives for the industry, Felmy put those earnings in perspective when it comes to high gasoline prices.

“If you took 100 percent of the earnings of the oil industry, you’d save 30 cents on the gallon,” Felmy said.

Low profit margins for "Big Oil" vs other industries

Moreover, compared to other American industries, the oil and natural gas industry’s profit margin are mid-range compared to other industries – 5.7 percent for each dollar, according to 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data.

Those industries making much higher net income/sales percentages on the dollar include beverage and tobacco products (21.7 percent), pharmaceuticals (19.4 percent), computer and peripheral equipment (17.3 percent) and chemicals (14.7 percent).

Remember this the next time you fill up

Fourteen percent of each dollar Americans spend at the pump goes to the federal government in the form of excise taxes.

Don't forget your local taxes piled onto that as well. The average gas station owner would be LUCKY to earn 5% on fuel sales. Hence the big push to sell everything under the sun at your corner gas station. That's what they are able to earn a profit on.

Plenty of retirees rely on marginal but reliable oil profits. DON"T forget the big haul that is taken in by the Federal and State Govt. Check out the profit margin that Apple earns next time you plunk down for a new ipad. There is your true demon and yet all who complain about Big Oil probably would never think twice about waiting in line for the latest and greatest new Apple product. Nothing like a 50% profit margin on a single product. I will place my anger on the high tech and electronics companies who deliberately milk the technology and trick the consumer into buying into the planned obsolescence scam.

www.cnsnews.com...

Here I was thinking that oil was in the hands of a very few oligarchs who doesn't really care about the physical money this produces, but the monopolistic property it has that ensures their economic stronghold over the world...We have computer chips the size of a rice grain that can receive signals from satellites, but I feel comfortable driving around with a 150 years old invention, ignoring patented technology that would free us from the elites power grip.

Guess I got my ass handled to me by the entrusted American Petroleum Institute.

if those figures are correct if oil was removed as a traded commodity it would drop in price 52.5 %

wall street has always been the enemy.

Originally posted by jibeho

Armed with a Power Point presentation to illustrate the state of American energy, John Felmy, chief economist at the American Petroleum Institute (API), said the majority of “big oil” and natural gas ownership is in good hands – the hands of the American people.



Moreover, compared to other American industries, the oil and natural gas industry’s profit margin are mid-range compared to other industries – 5.7 percent for each dollar, according to 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data.

Good hands and low profit margins. Poor honest working oil owners. Lobby creativity at its best. Get real mister and stop trying to sell us propaganda.

It is not who owns the oil that matters, it is the energetic stranglehold on the world's economy, making an unsustainable resource the prime driver, it is the resource (oil contracts) and price (boosting it) oriented geopolitical influence (political, economical and msm influence and of course war) the US resorts to regularly, it is the speculated trading of the oil barrel on the futures markets, it is the lobbying against, buying up and harassing (to say the least) any alternative energy technology, that are central to the issue.

Fact is that you can try to clean up the oil profits as much as you like, namely through an institutionalized american lobby aimed humanizing the business, but they are as dirty as the stuff itself.

Great post. You provided excellent evidence and everyone in here criticizing you; are not producing any counter evidence. I personally think you are right about big oil, and people please remember big oil isn't as big as it used to be in the 70's U.S oil production has been declining since 1970 and this has allowed the middle east and other non-democratic nations to have more and more power over oil production and even then you can't blame these countries.

The real thing we are dodging around here is the FACT that oil is a FINITE resource and that we have reached peak extraction rate. That means from here production can only decline. This will spell massive problems for our modern industrial society that is so dependent on fossil fuels. Our world in 20 years will look nothing like it does now, and believe me by then peak oil will be a reality to everyone left surviving.