The oil and gas industry is frequently characterized as “Big Oil.” In fact, small businesses typically employing 10 full-time and 3 part-time employees drill 85 percent of the United States’ wells, produce 65 percent of the natural gas, and nearly 40 percent of the oil consumed by Americans.

Meanwhile, 97% of federal lands on the OCS and 94% of federal lands onshore are not leased for oil production.  The hoarding of federal land leases stifles American oil production.

So who benefits from Congressional stockpiling oil leases?

REALLY BIG OIL

Most of the oil we import comes from massive, nationally owned companies. The nationally owned Saudi Arabian Oil Company, for example, has over 30 times the amount of worldwide liquids reserves than ExxonMobil. When we are restricted from producing oil domestically, we send trillions of American dollars overseas into the coffers of unfriendly nations.
Here are the top 10 oil producing companies in the world:

Courtesy Encarta

• National Iranian Oil Company
• Saudi Arabian Oil Company
• Iraq National Oil Company
• Qatar General Petroleum Corporation
• Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (UAE)
• Kuwait Petroleum Corporation
• Petroleos de Venezuela.S.A.
• Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
• National Oil Company (Libya)
• Sonatrach (Algeria)

Below is a chart showing how much we send to nation-owned, really big oil companies:

Sources:

Environmental Benefits of Advanced Oil and Gas Exploration and Production Technology, U.S. Department of Energy Office of Fossil Energy, October 1999.

Leading Oil and Gas Companies Around the World, PetroStrategies, Inc., http://www.petrostrategies.org/Links/Worlds_Largest_Oil_and_Gas_Companies_Sites.htm, July 16, 2008.

U.S. Imports by Country of Origin, Energy Information Administration, http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbbl_a.htm, July 16, 2008.