CHAPTER 3

Industry Organization and Competition

The oil and gas industry is composed of three main categories of participants: internationally owned oil companies (IOCs), national oil companies (NOCs) that operate as corporate entities, and government-sponsored oil enterprises (GSEs) that operate as government agencies. Often, we find these groups forming strategic alliances to facilitate their mutual objectives. In addition, there may be several groups involved, such as the governments of individual countries, service companies, and independent oil companies. The largest investor-owned companies are ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell, British Petroleum (BP), Total, and Chevron, more commonly known as the Big Five. Out of the top 20 oil/gas producers, ...

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