What I've been reading lately

The Economist pointed out recently that the large majority of the world’s largest oil companies are nationally owned by various countries around the world:

Big Oil is pretty small next to the industry’s true giants: the national oil companies (NOCs) owned or controlled by the governments of oil-rich countries, which manage over 90% of the world’s oil, depending on how you count. Of the 20 biggest oil firms, in terms of reserves of oil and gas, 16 are NOCs. Saudi Aramco, the biggest, has some twenty more times the reserves that Shell does.

Oh well, and since you're here anyway: why not have a go at this Guardin article that suggests "massive mergers" (e.g. Shell/BP) in order to be able compete with NOCs.