Ecuador
Which is the most ethical oil company?
Oil is a messy industry, in pretty much every conceivable way. There’s no such thing as clean oil, or an environmentally friendly oil company, but there are degrees of responsibility. Likewise with business ethics. The oil companies have been involved in some very murky business in the past, and some really do have blood on their hands. So, which is the best one to buy your petrol from? Here are the top five oil companies, and a few notes on their record.
The Perils of Petrocracy
Who holds the world’s oil? You might assume it’s in the hands of big private oil companies like ExxonMobil. But in fact, 77 percent of the world’s oil reserves are held by national oil companies with no private equity, and there are 13 state-owned oil companies with more reserves than ExxonMobil, the largest multinational oil company. The popular perception in the United States is that if leaders of oil countries nationalize their oil, they are bucking a global trend toward privatization.
