Petroleum Intelligence Weekly Ranks World's Top 50 Oil Companies

Accessed through http://www.energyintel.com/
Petroleum Intelligence Weekly's annual ranking of the world's 50 largest oil companies is a perennial benchmark survey recognized industry-wide and the leading source of comparative corporate performance assessments. The rankings are based on six operational criteria that allow the comparison of private sector and state-owned oil companies. This survey is the precursor to the more comprehensive Energy Intelligence Top 100: Ranking The World's Oil Companies.

Key findings from the PIW Top 50 [published in late 2009 -- D.R.]:

• Oil firms collectively weather a volatile year to keep rankings stable
• Natural gas’ contribution to reserves and production growth continues to gain traction
• France’s Total ties Chevron for No. 9 spot ...

Firms are compared in six different operational areas, with companies assigned a separate rank within each category. These criteria include:

• Liquids — Output ('000 b/d), Reserves (Million Bbl)
• Gas — Output (MMcf/d), Reserves (Bcf)
• Product Sales ('000 b/d) and Distillation Capacity ('000 b/d)

Financial and other measures of size include:

• Revenue (US$ million), Net Income (US$ million), Total Assets (US$ million), # of Employees ... 

To view the PIW Top 50 rankings, click here

(PIW's ranking is based on operational data for 2008. PIW measures government-controlled national oil companies -- NOCs, side by side with privately controlled international oil companies -- IOCs. Saudi Aramco maintains its hold on the top spot. It has achieved the top spot in the PIW rankings for 21 consecutive years. Rounding out the Top 10 are, in order, Iran's NIOC, Exxon Mobil, Venezuela's PDV, China's CNPC, the U.K.'s BP, Royal Dutch Shell of the Netherlands/UK, ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Total of France (Total ties Chevron for No. 9 spot). Petróleos Mexicanos/Pemex ranked at No. 11 in the 2010 Petroleum Intelligence Weekly's/PIW's ranking for 2008. Pemex retained its spot as the No. 11, in the 2011 PIW's ranking for 2009. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A./Petrobras ranked at No. 15 in the 2010 Petroleum Intelligence Weekly's/PIW's ranking for 2008. Petrobras retained its spot as the No. 15, in the 2011 PIW's ranking for 2009. Compare the PIW's rankings for 2008 with the 2009 Platts rankings for 2008, here and here. Furthermore, compare the PIW's rankings for 2008, to the PIW's rankings for 2009, here. BP, which faces huge costs associated with Deepwater Horizon disaster - see here - may be adversely affected in the future rankings. See also Christopher Helman, "The World's Biggest Oil Companies," Forbes, here. Also, please see PIW's Dec 2011 company rankings for 2010, here. - D.R.)