Institutional shareholders control management; they hire and fire management. It is they who decide what oil and most other companies do, via directors. It doesn't take owning 51% of shares to control a company. Management receives stock options and shares because that is a large part of their compensation, hence why they focus on share value over long term management. If tjhey can make more money by merely doing nothing, they will do exactly that, and as repeatedly reported openly in the press they are now going to keep the cash and distribute dividends are diversify holdings instead of re-investing in expensive drilling. Wells using rotary drills are way up from this time last year; they are cheaper and shallower wells than fracking wells.
Even the Rockefeller brothers didn't own but 35% of Standard Oil, yet nobody in their right minds would claim they didn't control it. Lil Goober out in the Burbs and his 100 shares of a mutual fund doesn't control squat, and most likely doesn't vote at any shareholders' meetings, he just sells his proxy, if he ever owned the proxy at all. Many private banks own less than 5% of shares in a lot of different companies, and you can bet they get to name a lot more than their fair share of directors.
whoownsbigoil.com
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