Who are the Big Sisters?
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America
Big Brothers Big Sisters of America is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose goal is to help all children reach their potential through professionally supported, one-to-one relationships with volunteer mentors.
Big Oil
The history of the supermajors traces back to the "Seven Sisters", the seven oil companies which formed the "Consortium for Iran" cartel and dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the 1970s. The Seven Sisters were:
Before the oil crisis of 1973 the members of the Seven Sisters controlled around 85% of the world's oil reserves.
The supermajors began to emerge in the late-1990s, in response to a severe fall in oil prices. Large petroleum companies began to merge, often in an effort to improve economies of scale, hedge against oil price volatility, and reduce large cash reserves through reinvestment.
The following major mergers and acquisitions of oil and gas companies took place between 1998 and 2002:
This process of consolidation created some of the largest global corporations as defined by the Forbes Global 2000 ranking, and as of 2007 all were within the top 25. Between 2004 and 2007 the profits of the six supermajors totaled US$494.8 billion.