Big Oil, No Mojo

With BP battered in Russia, and Total looking beyond petrol to nukes, what does the future hold?

BP CEO Tony Hayward is fighting the biggest battle in the British oil giant’s history since it enlisted the CIA to overthrow the Iranian government for nationalizing the company’s holdings in 1953. Except this time, the odds seem stacked against the company. BP has withdrawn executives and specialists from Russia in a battle over control of its Russian joint venture, TNK-BP. BP chairman Peter Sutherland has accused the Kremlin of turning a blind eye to an asset grab by BP’s partners, four powerful Russian oligarchs. Were BP to be forced out, as many analysts now expect, the British company would in an instant lose a quarter of its oil production and as much as a third of its reserves. One analyst warned last week that a debacle in Russia could make BP ripe for a takeover.


The escalating dispute is emblematic of the problems facing Big Oil