When sorting through the rankings of the World’s 25 Biggest Oil Companies and looking at who controls and influences the likes of ExxonMobil, Statoil, Rosneft and Pdvsa—one thing becomes clear: no industry leader has more sway, has twisted more arms or made more deals than Russian President Vladimir Putin.  Putin’s influence begins with Gazprom (#2 on the list of biggest oil and gas producers) and Rosneft (#15). Russia’s biggest natural gas and oil producers may be publicly traded, but a majority of shares are held by the Russian government, and thus overseen by Putin. Forbes first investigated Putin’s use of Gazprom as a political tool back in 2006 and his hold on the company—which has a near monopoly on selling gas to western Europe—has only strengthened since then. The same goes for Rosneft, to which Putin recently appointed his long-time deputy and energy tsar Igor Sechin as chairman.  Putin is also influential in the interworkings of Lukoil (#18), which does not have any government ownership but was formed by a former Soviet deputy oil minister, Vagit Alekperov, who is now worth $13.5 billion.  Alekperov regularly consults with Putin, and the Russian oil giants already have some joint ventures and are discussing another link up for Arctic exploration.  But Putin’s gravity has attracted many other oil giants. Royal Dutch Shell (#7) has a long history with Gazprom in the Sakhalin Island developments.  This year ExxonMobil (#4) forged a sweeping joint venture with Rosneft to explore the Arctic as well as Siberia’s massive Bazhevon shale formation, which some think could be 80 bigger than the Bakken formation of North Dakota. Exxon has said that if successful this tie-up could lead to $500 billion in investments in the years to come.  BP (#6) tried to cut a similar deal last year, but was blocked by the Russian oligarchs behind BP’s 50/50 venture TNK-BP. (BP is now in talks with Rosneft again, given its intent to sell out its TNK-BP stake.) Rosneft in recent months has cut similar ventures with Norway’s state oil giant Statoil (#20) as well as Italy’s champion Eni (#19). A stern-visaged Putin has presided over each of the signing ceremonies.  Eni has been particularly friendly with the Kremlin. Putin forged a close friendship with former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and reportedly said that the sexual allegations that led in part to the fall of Berlusconi were “made out of envy.”  That helped open the door for Gazprom to link up with Eni on natural gas projects in north Africa, especially Libya. Putin, at a summit with Muammar Gaddafi in 2008 forged an alliance between Russia and Libya, and was highly critical of NATOs attacks on Libya last year.  Gaddafi was just one of Putin’s oil-soaked despot pals. In 2010 Putin and Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez signed a deal in which Russia promised to sell Venezuela weapons and energy technology and to even help Chavez build a nuclear power plant. Last year Gazprom and Rosneft loaned Petroleos de Venezuela (#22) $4 billion in exchange for access to oil and gas opportunities.  But what of the great Middle Eastern oil and gas powers? Putin has had a rocky relationship with OPEC over the years. Russia is a not a member of the cartel despite the fact that until just recently it was exporting more oil than Saudi Arabia. In fact Russia has competed directly with Saudi Aramco (#1) for customers in the Far East. Last year, however, Putin said that Russia would start cooperating with OPEC
We rank the biggest of Big Oil, and highlight the powerful potentate who knows how to twist their arm.