Woohoo! Oil Majors brought to their knees!

[Dover]

I was beginning to think I wouldn't live long enough to witness this event!
The Seven-headed dragon is going DOWN!

---------------------------


Last year, soon after Tony Hayward became chief executive of BP, a colleague and I met with him and asked, among other things, about the company's venture in Russia.

He described it as "stunningly successful" and pledged that "we are going to continue to expand and grow our business in Russia."

A year later, TNK-BP is in tatters. Russia essentially kicked the venture's chief executive out of the country. BP remains in an ugly battle for control, while almost a quarter of its annual production hangs in the balance. Russia's invasion of Georgia last week, by the way, forced the shutdown of a BP pipeline originally built to circumvent Russia's control of energy in the region.

TNK-BP was a hallmark of Hayward's predecessor, John Browne. Browne transformed BP into a global player and pushed it into Russia in a bold move that many rivals wouldn't dare attempt. Daring turned to disaster, though, as BP found itself unable to control the outcome.

Gone are the days when BP manhandled reserves out of foreign countries, as it did in Iran the early years of the last century. Once the lion of British enterprise, Russia has brushed it aside like a kitten.

It's not alone. The rise in oil prices has emboldened foreign governments with petro-fed economies, from Russia to Venezuela. Western oil companies have been shut out of major new oil finds around the globe for years. Now, they're finding it increasingly difficult to hold onto assets they already have.

Even when drilling rights are sold at auction, the majors often lose, outbid by state-owned oil companies that can afford to sacrifice profitability for supply.

In other words, Big Oil doesn't seem so big these days.

The exception, of course, is in Washington, where it's still villain of choice for high gasoline prices.
But in the rest of the world, the Seven Sisters that once dominated the global oil market now seem forgotten...cont'd

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/steffy/5947272.html

[grannie4peace]

1. but

in iraq they have no-bid status--whatever that means

[Dover]

2. It'll be a slow, agonizing death. But this is a turning point.

They've been wrestled to the ground.

It won't solve our carbon problem, but it does hobble a very big horse that has stood
in the way of significant change in this country. It won't be fun, but ultimately
a good thing. Now if we can just keep them from suckering us into more wars as they
go through their own death throes....
Or prevent them from confiscating other resources and treating it like oil (such as water).

[fascisthunter]

4. Dover, Do You Think There is a Chance

we Americans can hold Big Oil accountable for this ongoing war/occupation? And could we RICO companies because of it?

[Dover]

8. Well, not likely if you think it might happen through legal/government channels.

But we can collectively refuse to play along. And individually as well.

Not sure what RICO means....but it sounds juicy! :P

I think the best revenge would be to step up activity on creating sustainability and
imposing our wills locally to support it and integrate it into our cities and towns.
There are already signs of this happening. We don't have time to waste on these bums...
except where they get in our way in trying to accomplish these things.

That's just my opinion. I'm about LIVING the sustainable life and leaving them in the dust.

[fascisthunter]

3. hmm.... so, Big Oil Uses Our Military as a Last Ditch Attempt

and these inflated prices are insurance?

Whatever the situation is, we need to Nationalize oil... they have used our Nation like a giant douche. Well, it's time they and all big business interests learn a big lesson.

[Dover]

5. Oil Executives March On D.C.

Oil Executives March On D.C.
'We Just Want Our Voices Heard'

WASHINGTON, DC—More than 1,000 majority shareholders and executive officers from the nation's largest oil companies gathered in the National Mall and marched to Capitol Hill Monday in a mass demonstration for petrochemical corporations' rights and, according to several of those who attended, "to let our voices be heard at last."

"We're American citizens, and we demand to be part of the national dialogue," said John S. Watson, vice president of international exploration and production for Chevron Corporation, the world's second-largest oil company. "Many people in our industry think nobody in Washington cares about us, and that our opinions don't matter. We're here today to change that."

Guest speakers, including folk-singing lobbyist Anne Novotny, international drilling-rights activist Bill Marshall, and several Saudi princes, focused on the need to extend subsidies to offshore drilling efforts, grant tax breaks for the construction of new refineries, and stop oppressive environmental regulation.

But the real message of the protest was more personal: To demonstrators, the oil industry is unappreciated and even persecuted by large segments of the public who only want them for the gasoline they sell. Protesters hoisted signs reflecting this sentiment, bearing such slogans as "Enough Is Enough," "Power To The Petroleum-Producing People," "Texaco-American Pride," and "I'm Pro-Oil And I Vote."

"Politicians are supposed to work for everyone," said Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute. "For years, they've pretended like we didn't even exist. But today, with this many people from the oil industry right here in our nation's capital, we're sending an undeniably strong message..cont'd

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/48458

[FredStembottom]

7. From The Onion?

I sincerely hope......................

[Dover]

9. LOL... cue the theme from the Twilight Zone.

Sorry to scare you, I had forgotten the link. It's there now...lol!

[FredStembottom]

11. You just never know these days!

You should have seen me scrutinizing those placards in the picture for Photoshoppiness!

Whew!:think:

[stillcool]

6. I don't see it..

more money than most countries doesn't mesh with brought to their knees. If anyone knows about the ways around the energy crisis it is the oil companies. It wouldn't surprise me if they already have the answers to alternate energy but are waiting until they drain every last drop of profit out of the current system. They can bankrupt their logo corporation and seemingly fade into the history bin, while in reality the same principles will be in the forefront of the next king makers.

[Dover]

12. I think people are tired and fed up with the whole capitalist imperialist model

and the few owning, regulating and pricing the resources of the many. And it's also their view
of what globalization is that has to die as well. We need to start over in many ways. And I
don't think it will be pretty or easy. While I don't know if they have anything up their sleaves,
I just think their time has come and we'll look back on them as some archaic and unevolved
remnant of a value system and its culture that went the way of the dinosaurs.

-------------------------------------
From the article:


So beaten abroad and shut out at home, Big Oil watches its production decline and buys back its own stock in a strategy that, if unchecked, leads to self-liquidation.

Perhaps the majors will lead in developing a new energy technology, or major reserves will be found in a region that welcomes their involvement. But that seems unlikely. New discoveries are made behind the veil of state control, and new technology can't grow fast enough to generate returns on par with record oil prices.

The reign of Big Oil is in its twilight, the promise of stunning successes dimming as rising oil prices — the bane of Big Oil's public image at home — bolster its opponents abroad.

Nowhere is that more obvious than in Russia, where BP's hopes unraveled into a glaring example of Big Oil's lost stature.

[Dover]

10. Why has it taken SO long?

As Jimmy Carter said 29 years ago in his speech, A Crisis of Confidence:


Energy will be the immediate test of our ability to unite this nation, and it can also be the standard around which we rally. On the battlefield of energy we can win for our nation a new confidence, and we can seize control again of our common destiny. In little more than two decades we've gone from a position of energy independence to one in which almost half the oil we use comes from foreign countries, at prices that are going through the roof. Our excessive dependence on OPEC has already taken a tremendous toll on our economy and our people. This is the direct cause of the long lines which have made millions of you spend aggravating hours waiting for gasoline. It's a cause of the increased inflation and unemployment that we now face. This intolerable dependence on foreign oil threatens our economic independence and the very security of our nation. The energy crisis is real. It is worldwide. It is a clear and present danger to our nation. These are facts and we simply must face them....I do not promise you that this struggle for freedom will be easy. I do not promise a quick way out of our nation's problems, when the truth is that the only way out is an all-out effort. What I do promise you is that I will lead our fight, and I will enforce fairness in our struggle, and I will ensure honesty. And above all, I will act. We can manage the short-term shortages more effectively and we will, but there are no short-term solutions to our long-range problems. There is simply no way to avoid sacrifice....I will continue to travel this country, to hear the people of America. You can help me to develop a national agenda for the 1980s. I will listen and I will act. We will act together. These were the promises I made three years ago, and I intend to keep them.

[NickB79]

13. A better headline would be "Big Oil replaced by hardline national regimes"

After all, they are discussing Russia taking over BP's holdings in Russia and now Georgia.

Which should make a person wonder: is Russian control actually any better than corporate control?

[Dover]

14. Well, I don't know what Russia's overall game plan is, but it seems they

and other nationalizing countries have done one of the few things they could do to hold onto
their resources and get out from under certain 'international bodies' that really didn't have
their best interests at heart. Perhaps if the U.S. had been a better team player we wouldn't
be in this pickle.

That said, we'd better get busy on alternatives to break our dependency. And so should the
EU. They are very torn about how to treat this new 'relationship' with Russia, but they might
have a better relationship if they had some energy independence. Germany has really been
the leader in incorporating alternatives.