Big Oil Is Getting Pushed Around

Exxon Mobil’s biggest competitor in the quest for oil reserves is not BP or Royal Dutch Shell. It is the governments of China, South Korea and India.

Chevron and Exxon Mobil lost an auction for Nigeria’s most promising oil and gas fields last year to companies controlled by South Korea. In Venezuela, Royal Dutch Shell’s bid to develop an offshore gas deposit collapsed when Brazil’s state oil company stepped in.