Who owns big oil?

[Wildcat]

http://www.api.org/Newsroom/owner-study.cfm

New study finds ownership of America’s oil and natural gas companies “broadly middle class”

Karen Matusic | 202.682.8118| matusick@api.org

WASHINGTON – Who owns ‘Big Oil?’ It’s not who you think. As Congress debates national energy policy, a new study finds that ownership of oil and natural gas company shares is made up of a broad cross section of Americans.

“This study disproves the popular misconception that ‘Big Oil’ is owned by a small group of industry insiders. In reality, across the oil and natural gas industry only 1.5 percent of shares of public companies are owned by company executives,” said study author Robert J. Shapiro, undersecretary of commerce for economic affairs under President Bill Clinton. “The data show that ownership of industry shares is broadly middle class, with the majority of industry shares held by institutional investors, often on behalf of millions of Americans through mutual funds, pension funds and individual retirement accounts.”

API Chief Economist John Felmy added: “When politicians seek to punish these companies and ‘take their profits,’ they are not targeting industry executives but the hard-earned savings of working people.”

Shapiro and economist Nam D. Pham’s study was commissioned by API. The study shows that:

1. Almost 43 percent of oil and natural gas company shares are owned by mutual funds and asset management companies that have mutual funds. Mutual funds manage accounts for 55 million U.S. households with a median income of $68,700.

2. Twenty seven percent of shares are owned by other institutional investors like pension funds. In 2004, more than 2,600 pension funds run by federal, state and local governments held almost $64 billion in shares of U.S. oil and natural gas companies. These funds represent the major retirement security for the nation’s current and retired soldiers, teachers, and police and fire personnel at every level of government.

3. Fourteen percent of shares are held in IRA and other personal retirement accounts. Forty five million U.S. households have IRA and other personal retirement accounts, with an average account value of just over $22,000.

For a complete text of the study, more information on the authors and an audio podcast of an interview with Robert Shapiro and John Felmy visit www.energytomorrow.org or www.sonecon.com.

[mrdux]

Any of us who have mutual funds are "Big Oil" since we all own a piece of it. This fact should make each one of us even madder when some POS politician in Washington blames the current situation on "Big Oil".

[kytrapper]

Good post and dead on.

[trust me]

Any of us who have mutual funds are "Big Oil" since we all own a piece of it. This fact should make each one of us even madder when some POS politician in Washington blames the current situation on "Big Oil".

Bingo. I'd wager that way over half of the members here with pensions and retirements and 401(k)'s are part of the "big oil" club that they so despise.

[mrdux]

viejo, I agree with both of your points.

If most of these Kool-Aid drinkers would turn off CNN or PMSNBC and get their info from a reliable source, they would realize things are MUCH better than they hear. The mainstream media wants to put a socialist in the whitehouse and have them control Congress so bad that they will report ANYTHING to make things look terrible. I'm not saying that there aren't people who are having a hard time. Most of the ones who are suffering that I'm familiar with are because of their own choices or lack of effort. This country goes thru economic slowdowns every few years and with Congress working SO DAMN HARD to force their global warming, Chicken Little mentality, on us it's no wonder things are made to look as bad as possible.

I don't see McCain as the savior and I'm terribly disappointed to see him as my only choice candidate. I do see him as someone I can agree with some of the time rather than the socialist candidate whom I disagree with on EVERYTHING!!

[grouseguy]

Bingo. I'd wager that way over half of the members here with pensions and retirements and 401(k)'s are part of the "big oil" club that they so despise.

trust me,

I agree, IN PART ... I, like many others, have a considerable concentration in "Natural Resources" type funds, just because I saw the writing on the wall early in the W administration and understood the built in advantage that "Big Oil" would have with a pro-energy company policy making team.

Interestingly at the time, my broker seriously advised AGAINST buying Natural Resources because the historical numbers didn't support that much of a concentration. My response was that in this case, I wasn't looking at past results, and much as future collusion as the source of profits going forward. At our last meeting, he acknowledged that this one single move made the biggest difference in stabilizing my porfolio, which provided me with better results than the average of his other clients.

Actually, the fact that only 1.5% of Big Oil stock is owned by company executives should be a HUGE clue to most of you. The executives are skimming off massive salaries, bonuses, and perks at the moment in anticipation of this sector tanking once the new administration takes over in a little over six months. These executives are taking what they can, while the getting is good, and won't have a dog in the fight once their built in competitive advantage is GONE.

BOTH McCain and Obama have as central planks in their platforms ... Corporate Reform, which is bad news for those "suits" who have taken so much from so many either way the election goes.

Think about it and act accordingly with your own portfolios ... I know I will!!!

[mrdux]

"Corporate Reform" means 2 TOTALLY different things to each side. To socialist wannabes it means nationalizing industry and letting Uncle Sucker run it all. Tell me about what a great job Uncle has done running social security and medicare. No thanks!! $4 gas is bad, what would Uncle charge? $10/gallon would probably be a bargain if we were even allowed to buy it.

[grouseguy]

"Corporate Reform" means 2 TOTALLY different things to each side. To socialist wannabes it means nationalizing industry and letting Uncle Sucker run it all. Tell me about what a great job Uncle has done running social security and medicare. No thanks!! $4 gas is bad, what would Uncle charge? $10/gallon would probably be a bargain if we were even allowed to buy it.

How do you respond to regurgitated canned propoganda paranoia? :rolleyes:

[deadaim]

How do you respond to regurgitated canned propoganda paranoia? :rolleyes:

So are you trying to say the goverment has done a good job with SS and Medicare?

[headoftheholler]

My 401(k) is invested in mutual funds, we have discretion where to invest ect. Two years ago I took a chance being only 28 years old and pulled out of the typical low risk low earning funds and put 70% in a mutual fund that consists of 60% exxonmobil with the rest in other smaller percentages and the other 30% in asian (very high risk) investments. My return over the last two years has been unbelievable. While I realize that I am doing my part in partaking in "big oil" (higher gas prices) I also drive a v8 truck and pay the piper at the pump. Overall, my higher earnings in the 401k outweigh the extra cash spent at the pump, for now.

[daking]

Corporate reform?

Whomever is the next president will not write legislation that will reform anything. That's the duty of congress.

How is this administration so pro-energy? If that were the case, there would have been, by executive order and by administrative decisions permits issued to drill and refine untapped sources of oil here. While the prices would fall, the margins would increase and the supply would have been steady. I suspect that there are a lot of oil men that would much rather be drilling our own oil than having to buy it on the commodities exchange.

The simple fact is that the price of oil is what it is because there is a rapidly increasing demand for a commodity that is produced in an unstable part of the world. It's not George Bush's fault. It's not big oil's fault. If the price of petroleum dropped by 50% and their profits turned to losses I doubt that you'd feel particularly sorry for them. They are taking the risk (and any time you're relying on an unstable society as a partner you're taking a hell of a risk) and hence should make a profit. So what if the head guy at Exxon makes twelve million a year? That's just about what Daniel Briere makes a year. Who is Daniel Briere? He's a guy whose name noone knows who plays a sport no one watches (hockey player for the Philadelphia Flyers). Saying this administration is pro-oil because Exxon makes a lot of money is like saying that because a French-Canadian got a green card and makes a ton of money with his ice skates, George Bush heads a pro-hockey administration.

Perhaps the government should not have an energy policy at all. They have no technology policy and seems to me every time I buy a computer or a television, the price is lower, the quality is higher and I'm more satisfied. Maybe we should just let the market work its magic.

[slickhead slayer]

trust me,

I agree, IN PART ... I, like many others, have a considerable concentration in "Natural Resources" type funds, just because I saw the writing on the wall early in the W administration and understood the built in advantage that "Big Oil" would have with a pro-energy company policy making team.

Interestingly at the time, my broker seriously advised AGAINST buying Natural Resources because the historical numbers didn't support that much of a concentration. My response was that in this case, I wasn't looking at past results, and much as future collusion as the source of profits going forward. At our last meeting, he acknowledged that this one single move made the biggest difference in stabilizing my porfolio, which provided me with better results than the average of his other clients.

Actually, the fact that only 1.5% of Big Oil stock is owned by company executives should be a HUGE clue to most of you. The executives are skimming off massive salaries, bonuses, and perks at the moment in anticipation of this sector tanking once the new administration takes over in a little over six months. These executives are taking what they can, while the getting is good, and won't have a dog in the fight once their built in competitive advantage is GONE.

BOTH McCain and Obama have as central planks in their platforms ... Corporate Reform, which is bad news for those "suits" who have taken so much from so many either way the election goes.

Think about it and act accordingly with your own portfolios ... I know I will!!!

Your theories always lack the facts to back them up. For starters, what has Bush, his admin, or his energy policy done to help big oil, or even create a positive atmosphere for them? His latest energy policy has the auto industry crying, because his energy policy mandates that all cars get 35 MPG by a certain year. Its the most dramatic increase in MPG standards in decades.
Also, there is another HUGE factor your forgetting. Belgium had widespread protest earlier this week, because their gas hit $9 a gallon. The rest of Europe is having record breaking gas prices also. How did Bush and his "pro-oil" admin, create high gas prices for the rest of the world?:rolleyes:
Your theories just don't make sense.

[trust me]

Actually, the fact that only 1.5% of Big Oil stock is owned by company executives should be a HUGE clue to most of you. The executives are skimming off massive salaries, bonuses, and perks at the moment in anticipation of this sector tanking once the new administration takes over in a little over six months. These executives are taking what they can, while the getting is good, and won't have a dog in the fight once their built in competitive advantage is GONE.

BOTH McCain and Obama have as central planks in their platforms ... Corporate Reform, which is bad news for those "suits" who have taken so much from so many either way the election goes.



I studied executive compensation, golden parachutes and stock options in a 580-level class over 20 years ago. Executive greed is nothing new. I see it at small community levels, bad enough to make you wonder how some can show their faces in public. It's the same for multi-nationals, just on a larger scale.

What exactly is the "built in competitive advantage" and the collusion of which you speak? I really haven't researched it but would like to know what it is.

[grouseguy]

I studied executive compensation, golden parachutes and stock options in a 580-level class over 20 years ago. Executive greed is nothing new. I see it at small community levels, bad enough to make you wonder how some can show their faces in public. It's the same for multi-nationals, just on a larger scale.

What exactly is the "built in competitive advantage" and the collusion of which you speak? I really haven't researched it but would like to know what it is.

I wish I could answer your question, but VP Cheney has made nearly all of this information, including the exact make-up of the commission ... "top secret". Therefore, we just have to go on what facts we do know and draw our own conclusions. All I stated was how I directed my 401(k) based on the assumptions that I made, and so far its worked much better than most ... it also appears that headoftheholler did the same.

... and you're right ... this type of corruption is not new, and stretches from the smallest to the infinite. However, it does appear that the Neo-Cons have taken it to a new level never seen before.

BiggerBuck had a very good explanation of all of this a couple of days ago, but I forget which thread it was on. He has obviously read up more on the energy policy than I ... possibly he'll jump in here.

[Wildcat]

Since when does the Vice President of the US have the power to make anything top secret??

The US Constitution says the VP has only 2 jobs, to wait for the president to die in office and to vote in the Senate to break any tie, that's it. The only other jobs the VP might do is if the President of the US gives him that work. Unless the President spelled it out the VP has no power in any politicy what so ever.

As for corruption , just take a close look at any local bank in Kentucky, it's just as bad there as it is any where in the world. The words "insider tradding" did not start with Wall Street but the banks. That should tell you something.

[Wildcat]

Oh yea. If any American citizen wants to get info from the govt, ever so called "secret" info all they have to do is file under the Freedom of Infomation Act. Since the GENERAL PUBLIC owns most of the oil stocks we should be able to get all this "secret" info easy.

[grouseguy]

Secondly, executives can't be "skimming....massive salaries, bonuses, and perks". ALL of those are determined by the Board of Directors, who are accountable to shareholders like you and me for producing the highest profit possible. The "company executives" can't possibly be "skimming....massive salaries, bonuses, and perks" because those decisions are not theirs to make.


Your statement is good in theory, it's how it SHOULD work, and obviously does in some companies, but I think you'd have a hard time getting the shareholders of Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, et. al. to agree that its practiced this way in REALITY.

[daking]

Now wait a minute. The top guys at Enron, Tyco and Worldcom were out and out crooks. They stole money. They didn't make bad business decisions. They weren't satisfied with their executive compensation and flat out stole.

There is no indication that the oil execs are stealing anything. They are running profitable businesses in a profitable industry. As a stockholder, I'm glad they're well paid so that they will stay with the industry and keep making me money.

The real tragedy in the oil industry is that the government interferes in it far too much. Left to their own devices, they'd probably be a lot more efficient than they are with being hamstrung. Back in '80, I had a friend who was making a pile of money getting oil out of the ground and onto the barge at $12.00 a barrel. Now I know you gotta factor in inflation, but I suspect that they'd be happy to be able to tap their own resources and produce at 80 a barrel and eliminate the transportation costs and what-not. Unfortunately, congress forbids domestic exploration and exploitation. You will note that the price of crude has gone up about double since the democrats took over both houses. There's where the investigation should begin. Unfortunately, few authorities have the power to compel congress to tell the truth.

[grouseguy]

Please, learn more about how the corporate world operates before you jump on the "corporate greed" bandwagon.

That REALLY is funny, but no offense taken, since we don't know each other.

You obviously have some business training/experience, but my guess is we've had different real world experiences that have formed the basis of our seperate opinions re: Corporate Greed.

[grouseguy]

Not one business class. Not one. I am an investor though, and before I invest in anything,

Sorry, I misjudged you ...

[Scott7m]

Grouse guy, you sound like the typical democrat down at the Buffalo Market gas station, Cheney this, Bush that, they raised the price of oil so their buddies could make more.

Then you ask the guy at the corner a simple question? OH, How did they do that?

That's when you reach and pull your pant legs up a lil higher becaus the BS will start getting deep in a hurry.

[grouseguy]

Grouse guy, you sound like the typical democrat

Scott,

Given our obvious differences ... I have avoided responding to your posts out of respect for how closely we live to each other, and the fact that we have some mutual friends/acquaintances ... I think that is a good policy to maintain.

[Al]

I really dont know much about what you guys are talking about, but I do wonder how much big oil companys are working to prevent alternative fuels and power sources and engines from being developed.
There has been quite a bit of bad press on bio diesel that I suspect has its roots with oil companies.

[Wildcat]

It's not a theory, it's called "corporate governance". It's enforced by the Securities and Exchange Commission by way of their required filings. Pick your favorite publicly traded whipping boy.....er, oil company, and read this one filing in particular. DEF 14A. These are filed once per year and outline, as determined by the Board of Directors (yes, it actually says that!!!), the compensation of all the executive officers, their bonuses, their perks, and their pensions. It also describes what compensation (if any, but most compensate) members of the Boards of Directors receive. In detail. Most importantly, the policies that guide the Board of Directors regarding compensation issues ARE VOTED ON BY THE SHAREHOLDERS!!!

You can find these online on every single financial website, or here. www.sec.gov

Please, learn more about how the corporate world operates before you jump on the "corporate greed" bandwagon.

Good post. Too bad some people think just because they follow what ever laws they want to and not others that other people do the same so to them other people must be crooks.

Congress has held several public hearings over the last 5-6 years and not one has found the oil companies doing any wrong.

[Scott7m]

Scott,

Given our obvious differences ... I have avoided responding to your posts out of respect for how closely we live to each other, and the fact that we have some mutual friends/acquaintances ... I think that is a good policy to maintain.

probably so, but in general what i'm saying is everyone always finds it easy to point fingers at a select few, like i could easily type 5 reasons to blame democrats for high gas prices. there is 2 sides to everything.

[trust me]

I really dont know much about what you guys are talking about, but I do wonder how much big oil companys are working to prevent alternative fuels and power sources and engines from being developed.
There has been quite a bit of bad press on bio diesel that I suspect has its roots with oil companies.

The bad press is deserved, because bio-diesel costs more to produce than it yields in product.

[nwest]

A. Most people are absolute morons who will believe anything when placing blame for their woes.

B. Washington is corrupt beyond repair. It's time for a new Revolution.

I agree, it is time for things to change. But noone will listen until its too late.

I was watching cspan the other day and someone was talking about a "Enron loophole". They blamed a speculation clause that was "missed" in the initial writing of a bill. Somone smarter than me can look it up and explain it, but it had a few people pulling on thier collars when they were talking about it. I feel ike a dork watching Cspan but it helps put me to sleep:p

[nwest]

The bad press is deserved, because bio-diesel costs more to produce than it yields in product.

Most processes are not very efficent when they are first bieng developed. I think we need to look at several choices not just give up when one of the first ones does not work the greatest. I know a guy who makes the diesel in his garage and loves it. I think it is costing him a little over 2.00 a gallon.

[trust me]

The diesel made from corn cost considerably more than 2 bucks a gallon, but we're head over heels in it anyway. Big oil is not behind the bad press about it.

[Al]

The diesel made from corn cost considerably more than 2 bucks a gallon, but we're head over heels in it anyway. Big oil is not behind the bad press about it.
Arent they trying to make it out of switchgrass also?Mabey the gov can produce it for themselves I know the countys are really feeling the crunch filling up school buses and road maintaince trucks etc.

[nwest]

The diesel made from corn cost considerably more than 2 bucks a gallon, but we're head over heels in it anyway. Big oil is not behind the bad press about it.

This guy is making it from waste oil from resturaunts.

[nwest]

BTW as I was laying down for a nap this afternoon I heard them talking about this clause again. It was almost like they are watchin me:eek:. The "enron loophole" removed all gov't regulatun of energy futures trading. They are in the process of adding a clause to the farm bill that keeps getting shot down that would "fix" it. Once again someone else may know more about it. The guy that was talking about it this morning said without the abuse of this market oil should be around 55-65 dollars a barrel for the true supply vs demand. According to this cat that number was from a big oil excec's mouth.....