[Petroleum Intelligence Weekly Ranks World's Top 50 Oil Companies -- ] Suncor Up, ConocoPhillips Down in PIW`s New Top 50 Oil Rankings

EI/PIW press release via Reuters, Dec 8, 2011

Divestitures and acquisitions were more significant in altering the “Big Oil” leadership landscape than either organic growth or the megamergers of yesteryear, according to the results of Petroleum Intelligence Weekly’s “Top 50” global oil company rankings, released today.

ConocoPhillips’ “shrink-to-grow” strategy, which had it spinning off considerable assets in 2010, resulted in the company falling out of the Top 10 for the first time in four years, with the Houston-based giant dropping to 12 from 8 a year earlier.

Conoco’s slippage in 2010 paved the way for Russian Gazprom’s first-time entry into the elite Top 10 that year, moving up to 10 from 12 a year earlier. France’s Total marked the only other shift on the leader board, moving up to 9 from 10 a year earlier [i.e., Saudi Aramco maintained its hold on the top spot, followed by the National Iranian Oil Co. at No. 2; with ExxonMobil at No. 3 and the Petroleos de Venezuela at No. 4. China National Petroleum Corp. retained its spot as the No. 5, followed by U.K.'s BP, Royal Dutch Shell of the Netherlands/UK and Chevron. Please also see the Saudi Aramco website, the HighBeam Business article and my remarks below -- D.R.].     

This year’s rankings reaffirmed the continued importance of the so-called “supermajors” – ExxonMobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and Total — which held onto their Top 10 spots. But companies in developing-countries like China were racing to catch up, moving up the ranks as they grew their operations through billions of dollars in strategic acquisitions.

The PIW Top 50 rankings compare petroleum-industry majors, independents and national oil companies based operational size, rather than market cap or other financial measures, to provide a holistic view of the industry landscape. They incorporate six unique operational criteria — oil and gas reserves, oil and gas production, product sales and refinery distillation capacity — from fiscal year 2010, the latest for which complete data were available.

For the first time the Top 50 also took a hard look at M&A, correlating companies’ movement in the rankings with the announced deal value of their mergers and acquisitions in 2009, 2010 and year-to-date 2011. The analysis reaffirms M&A’s importance to companies’ operational growth strategies, showing large net buyers — particularly in China — have generally fared better than net sellers.

“Companies are increasingly rising or falling based on their ability to look beyond the integrated model to grow their operations,” said Ian Nathan, a senior research analyst at PIW parent company Energy Intelligence Group and lead author of the Top 50. “With new reserves becoming ever scarcer, companies that come up with innovative ways to create value will reap ever bigger rewards.”

Among this year’s PIW Top 50 highlights:

• The year’s biggest gainer, Canada’s Suncor, soared 10 spots, to 39 from 49, on the strength of its Petro-Canada acquisition and impressive gains in oil and gas production and product sales.
• Colombia’s Ecopetrol returned to the list, resurfacing at 48 on significant increases in oil output and gas reserves. Meanwhile, New York-based Hess fell out off the Top 50 from 47 as its growth in oil reserves was unable to compensate for a drop in gas reserves.
• China’s Sinopec and CNOOC each gained four spots, with Sinopec jumping from 26 to 22 and CNOOC from 38 to 34 as they continued executing long-established growth strategies.
• Gazprom notwithstanding, Russian companies were a mixed bag in terms of growth. Novatek advanced to 41 from 44, but Rosneft, majority owned by the Russian government, fell to 19 from 16.

For a complete list of the Top 50 or to subscribe, please contact us at CustomerService@energyintel.com. [Read more]

(Please see my post "[Energy Intelligence] 'Top 100' Oil Rankings Heavy on Houston Firms,"  by Barrett Goldsmith, Houston Business Journal, Dec 3, 2010. 2011 marks the 23rd consecutive year that Saudi Aramco has achieved the top spot in the PIW rankings. Pemex retained its spot as the No. 11 in PIW's new Top 50 oil rankings for 2010. Also, Petrobras retained its spot as the No. 15 in PIW's new Top 50 oil rankings for 2010. Furthermore, please see Forbes ranking of oil and gas companies by oil and gas production "Mid 2012 Ranking of the World's Biggest Oil & Gas Companies," and PFC Energy ranking of the biggest publicly-traded energy companies, based mainly on capital market performance: "PFC Energy 50 Ranking of World’s Top Energy Companies." -- D.R.)

Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings 2011

Platts, Nov 2, 2011
The Platts Top 250 recognizes outstanding financial performance for the previous fiscal year. Each company listed in the Platts Top 250 has distinguished itself through its remarkable performance and the outstanding efforts and dedication of its team. [...]

Top Ten

The entry of German multi-utility E.ON AG to the top ten in 2009— the only non-Integrated Oil and Gas (IOG) company to do so in the last five years—proved fleeting [please see remarks below -- D.R.]. The oil and gas giants reasserted their dominance of the top ten rankings, taking all ten spots despite a stricken BP dropping far from sight. On the back of higher oil prices, the top ten companies brought in a combined $178.874 billion in profits, a 20.4% increase from 2009, but still down from the bumper year of 2008, when profits hit an all-time high of $214.042 billion.

US giant Exxon Mobil Corp retained the top spot in 2010, while Chevron Corp moved up from ninth in 2009 to second place as it boosted its return on invested capital (ROIC) to 16% from 10.2% in the previous year. Gazprom OAO, PetroChina Co Ltd, Total SA and the China Petroleum & Chemical Corp took third, fourth, fifth and eighth places, respectively, while Royal Dutch Shell climbed from tenth to sixth.

Three re-entrants to the top ten in 2010 included ConocoPhillips—now the subject of an innovative demerger into upstream and downstream businesses— which moved up from 24th place to seventh. Meanwhile Russia’s OJSC Rosneft Oil Company and Lukoil Oil Company rose from 14th and 11th places, respectively to take the ninth and tenth spots.

E.ON dropped back to 13th from sixth, and Brazil’s Petrobras-Petroleo Brasilier fell from fourth in 2009 to 12th in 2010. But the biggest omission from the top ten was UK major BP. Ranked second in 2009, BP dropped to 118th on account of the cost of the Macondo oil spill in the US Gulf of Mexico. Although in dollar terms its asset base expanded, as did its revenues, BP’s profits were wiped out. The company posted a loss for 2010 of $3.719 billion.

Here Come the Russians

Although the year-to-year changes in the top ten companies can be small, the big trends can be seen from longerterm comparisons. In 2006, the top ten consisted of five west European integrated oil and gas companies, three US majors, PetroChina and Petrobras. In 2010, there were still three US majors but now two Chinese and three Russian companies, with only two European companies remaining. [...]

The entry of Russian companies into the ranks of the world’s top energy enterprises is a striking feature of the 2010 list, and features not only oil and gas, but also electricity industry companies as a result of privatization in the sector. Of the top ten fastest-growing companies, three are Russian: RusHydro JSC, Bashneft OJSC and Moscow United Electric Grid OJSC, with RusHydro recording a giant three-year CGR of 106.1%. There are now 15 Russian companies in the top 250, compared with 11 in 2009 and nine in 2006.

Mighty Gazprom’s position remains pre-eminent in natural gas, based on its huge production volumes and monopoly grip on Russia’s gas pipelines and exports. However, it may one day have a challenger in the form of private gas company Novatek OAO, which is operator of the planned Yamal LNG project. Novatek has moved up from 126th position in 2009 to 104th in 2010. Profits rose from $854 million to $1,358 million with an impressive ROIC of 19% in 2010—the twelfth-highest ROIC out of the entire top 250. It is also the 34th fastest-growing company based on its three-year CGR. Including AK Transneft OAO, the country’s oil pipeline monopoly, Russia now has eight companies primarily focused on oil in the top 250 as well as two gas and five power sector companies. [...]

Asian Leaders

The number of Asian companies in the top 250 continues to rise, reaching 70 in 2010, up from 67 in 2009 and 56 in 2006. In addition, despite having more companies represented, the average ranking of Asian companies has also improved from 135.2 in 2006 to 134.9 in 2009 and 131.3 in 2010 (a lower number denotes a higher ranking). Asian companies are not just increasing in number, but are increasing their rankings relative to their international peers.

Within Asia, the average ranking of Japanese companies overall has improved from 145.9 to 132.1. This partly reflects the Japan Petroleum Exploration company dropping out of the top 250, but the improvement is notable given the sharp fall in the ranking of the Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) which was ranked 54th in 2009, but 131st in 2010.

This is the result of the financial impact of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in March 2011 and Japanese reporting of financial data based on fiscal years running from April-March. Tepco recorded a loss of $14,881 billion in fiscal 2010. Other Japanese companies dropping down the rankings include Tohoku Electric Power Co, which fell from 119th to 156th and Chugoku Electric Power Co, which dropped from 134th to 178th.

By contrast, Japan’s oil and gas companies performed well. JX Holdings was the shining star, rising from 129th in 2009 to 18th in 2010. Idemitsu Kosan Co Ltd increased its ranking from 144th to 70th. Tokyo Gas Company Ltd upped its place in the list from 108th to 74th. For China, most change was seen within the power sector. The number of Chinese companies in the top 250 was the same in 2010 as in 2009, but the Shenzhen Energy Group, Huadian Power Intl Corp and Shenergy Co. Ltd were displaced by Shanxi Lu’an Environmental Energy Development Co., Shanxi Xishan Coal and Electricity Power Co. and China Longyuan Power Group. In the oil sector, PetroChina moved up from seventh in the rankings to fourth, and CNOOC from 29th to 15th. The biggest mover, however, was China Yangtze Power Co., which jumped from 163rd in 2009 to 112th in 2010.

By contrast, India saw three new companies join the top 250 list—the newlylisted Coal India, oil and gas producer Cairn India Ltd and the IPP company NHPC Ltd. As in Japan, the oil sector also gave India its strongest movers. The Indian Oil Corp Ltd jumped from 78th in 2009 to 42nd in 2010, while the Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd rose from 174th to 142nd. [...]

(Please see my post "Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings 2010." Separately, please watch "Top 250 Energy Company Rankings [2011] analysis: 'Big Oil' dominates, but Asia steals the show," Platts, Nov 2, 2011 and see Platts 2011 rankings for 2010, pdf file. Update: It’s all eyes on China, India and the wider Asia-Pacific region when it comes to rapid financial growth and fast-rising energy companies. Seventy companies from the region were in the spotlight tonight when the 2012 Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings were unveiled at an awards dinner in Singapore. The 2012 rankings reflect fiscal 2011 financial performance in four key areas: asset value, revenues, profits and return on invested capital/ROIC. ...  In an East-West energy showdown, Western majors still dominated. Western integrated oil and gas/IOG and exploration and production/E&P companies took all of the Top 10 spots on the 2012 list, except for one – ninth place – which went to PetroChina Co. Ltd. ExxonMobil reigned supreme in the number one spot of the Top 250 roster for the eighth consecutive year. Anglo-Dutch major Royal Dutch Shell plc moved up from sixth position to second, displacing U.S. major Chevron to third. ConocoPhillips dropped one place from seventh to eighth. Although French major Total slipped from fifth position to seventh, other European majors saw improvements. Like Shell, Norway’s Statoil also ascended, climbing from 11th place to sixth between the 2011 and 2012 rosters. One of the standout movers among the Top 10 and the overall rankings was BP. The U.K. oil major took fourth position on this year’s list, after having plummeted from second place in 2010 to 118th place last year after more than $38 billion in losses from the Macondo oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Other majors, including Russian oil and gas giants, held on to their relatively high global rankings, despite slipping in the standings. Gazprom/Open Joint Stock Company – OJSC Gazprom dropped to fifth place this year from third place, while Rosneft dipped from ninth to 10th. OJSC LUKOIL slipped out of the Top 10 this year to 11th place---please see Platts, press release, Oct 23, 2012. -- D.R.)