2010 Top Oil Companies

Rankings, Trends and Insights

The top 100 assesses and compares the assets, activities and results of the world’s leading oil companies. It keeps track of the important structural changes in the international oil business ands examines which firms are expanding production, replacing reserves and which are regional market share leaders. Source: Energy Intelligence, London, England
www. energyintel.com

The rankings methodology

Energy Intelligence judges oil companies on six rakings criteria. They are Oil reserves, Gas reserves, Oil production, Gas production, Distillation capacity, Product sales.

The top 10

1. Saudi Aramco
2. NIOC
3. Exxon Mobil
4. PDVenezuala
5. ChinaHPC
6. BP
7. RD Shell
8. Conoco Phillips
9. Total
10. Chevron

Saudi Arabia, again, tops the Energy Intelligence oil company top oil company chart, but China and Russia show themselves to be growing global energy powers.

Energy Intelligence’s 2010 oil survey showed that companies with upstream exposure benefited from high oil prices. The top 100 aggregate revenue worldwide was up 30 per cent, and the six largest IOCs ended 2008 with 27 per cent more cash than 2007.

Only 11 companies moved four or more places, and natural gas was a significant operational driver. High oil prices and demand erosion hit product sales in certain geographies.
In terms of the top ten (measured on six operational categories), Saudi Aramco remain out in front, followed by National Iranian Oil , Exxon Mobil and PDV.

The EI report says that while 2008 saw record high oil prices, the second half of the year saw the global financial crisis tighten or freeze credit and create growth uncertainty. This meant that expected consolidation in the sector did not materialise.

There were attempts to keep oil sector investment and dividends stable, some share buybacks and cost-cutting, but oil majors expressed doubts about the benefits of size.
EI suggests that over the past year, the question might be, does size matter anymore? Perhaps the conventional wisdom is changing.

With the NOCs, a mixed performance was reported. Open-country NOCs saw production cuts, and product sales declined for 17 NOCs. However,gas production and reserves were up, led by QP and Turkmengas.

Natural gas helped several North American companies advance – XTO, Oxy, Penn West, EOG and Devon. So-called ‘unconventional gas’ encouraged other companies to move into North America – Total, Statoil, BP and Exxon Mobil among others. There remains uncertainty about unconventional gas, but production is likely to increase for the companies involved.
Natural gas growth was not limited to region or company type. At least 30 companies returned at least double-digit production growth, and 15 companies delivered at least double-digit reserve growth.

Looking beyond 2009, EI identifies five factors driving future rankings in the sector. They are Oil prices, mergers and acquisitions, upstream, downstream, and policy factors.
In terms of upstream developments beyond 2009 in Iraq, EI says that foreign companies are now gaining entry, but it is too early to tell how this will pan out. In Brazil, Petrobas and other subsalt, players are making waves. Russia is looking to Vankor and beyond. In Africa, there are exciting new discoveries in Ghana and Uganda.

The study also looks at corporate responsibility and policy matters. Policy issues which could affect company rankings in the next year are climate change legislation, operational changes and ranking changes themselves.