Could Big Oil be a scapegoat?

Who’s to blame?

As consumers struggle to pay off gasoline credit cards and brace for what could be their highest winter heating bills ever, the easiest target for their frustration is Big Oil.
Created by a wave of consolidation after low oil and gas prices in the late 1990s made it hard for independent players to survive, Big Oil today refers to a new class of five “supermajors,” formed out of 11 large oil and natural-gas producers from 1998 to 2001.

Four of the five last week reported a total of $29 billion in third-quarter profits – 52 percent more than last year. The largest of the group, Exxon Mobil Corp., recorded the biggest quarterly profit ($9.9 billion) and sales ($100.7 billion) of any publicly traded U.S. company ever.

Philadelphia Inquirer