Do oil companies control hybrid vehicle battery production

I was just reading an article about a new hybrid vehicle battery supplier, GS Yuasa at Green Car Congress. In the posts to that entry, there is an interesting thread about oil company conspiracies, such as how oil companies bought old trolley lines and dismantled them in favor of freeways. Additionally, there are some that claim that NiMH battery technology, which powers today's hybrid cars, is being controlled/limited by oil companies. While there have been patent infringement cases, I've heard that NiMH battery production has been largely minimized by limited availability of Nickel, not by oil companies. Still, great thread.