The Oil World's New Bullies

Move over, Exxon Mobil(XOM Quote). Step aside, BP(BP Quote). Run away home, Chevron(CVX Quote). There's a new set of oil bullies on the block. And they're named Russia, Iran, Venezuela and Chad.

No need to feel sorry for the Exxon Mobils of the world while you're filling up your tank with $3-a-gallon gas. Who can feel sorry for a company that earned $36 billion in 2005, more than any U.S. company ever?

But as you seethe about $3 gas now and worry about $4 gas next year, remember that Big Oil isn't calling the shots anymore. Venezuela has forced Exxon Mobil to slink out of the country and has made Chevron and ConocoPhillips(COP Quote) pay a 75% hike in royalties and a 50% increase in taxes and say, "Thank you, sir, may I please have another?"

Russia is blackmailing all of Europe by saying "Sell us your natural-gas delivery companies or no natural gas for you." Iran has thumbed its nose at the U.S. and the U.N., figuring that the world needs its oil too much to actually do anything about its nuclear weapons program. And Chad got the World Bank, the U.S. government and Exxon Mobil to cough up disputed royalties by threatening to shut its oil pipeline.

Boy, you know you're in trouble when Chad, a country of 8.1 million people living on 1.3 million square miles of desert, can push you around.

When Exxon Mobil Is Small Fry

How did Russia, Iran and Venezuela get to be the new bullies of oil?

It's not simply because they export lots and lots of oil -- although that certainly doesn't hurt. In 2004, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Russia was the world's second-largest oil exporter after Saudi Arabia. Iran was the second-largest oil exporter in OPEC (the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) after, again, Saudi Arabia, and the fourth-largest oil exporter in the world. Venezuela came in at No. 5. (For the record, Norway rounded off the list of the top five exporters at No. 3. It's only the seventh-largest oil producer in the world, but because of its small population, the country exports almost all of what it pumps.)