The Biggest Threat To Western Oil Majors

The international oil market is composed of two types of companies: International Oil Companies (IOC) and National Oil Companies (NOC). The former are Western firms with their origin often linked to the colonial past such as BP and Royal Dutch Shell. NOCs, on the other hand, were founded in a wave of nationalism in the 1950s and 1960s in primarily the Middle East and South America. The current challenges facing NOCs and their host states, however, is creating the need for a different kind of organization. It is important to understand that NOCs…