Oil & Gas Journal's look at the leading 100 oil and gas producing companies based outside the US allows for comparison of the size and results of the entities for which financial results and production and reserves data are available. For many of the national oil companies in the report, though, no such information on assets, revenues, earnings, or capital expenditures is available. Companies in OGJ100 are grouped by regions according to the location of their corporate headquarters.
Due to lower commodity prices, the OGJ100 list for 2016 reveals that revenue and capital expenditures were on the decline last year worldwide, while losses of many companies mitigated from a year ago on relatively smaller impairments.
Production and reserves changes vary across regions. Amid some of the lowest oil prices in recent history, some producers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia set a record for annual oil extraction in 2016.
All financial results that are included in this report are shown in US dollars. Due to exchange rate variation, the amount of financial results can be significantly affected when translated into US dollars.
Regional performances
A sample of 21 Canadian companies included in this edition of the OGJ100 combined for a $609 million net loss in 2016 compared with a collective net loss of $18 billion for the same group a year earlier. The Canadian firms' 2016 results were negatively impacted by wildfires in northern Alberta in second-quarter 2016.
Six of the 21 companies reported positive income in 2016 compared with 3 such companies in 2015. Helped with strong downstream performance and a gain from the sale of retail sites, Imperial Oil Ltd. reported the largest net income in the group.
The Canadian group's combined assets at yearend 2016 increased 3% compared to the level at yearend 2015. Suncor Energy Inc. holds the most assets of the group, followed by Canadian Natural Resources and Imperial Oil Ltd.
The Canadian group's collective capital expenditures were down 30% from a year earlier. Their worldwide oil and natural gas production in 2016 both decreased 8% year-over-year. Worldwide oil reserves of the group were down 11% from a year ago, while natural gas reserves increased 2%.
Ranked by assets, Royal Dutch Shell PLC is the largest of the European companies in the OGJ100, followed by BP PLC, Total SA, and OAO Gazprom. While 2016 collective revenue declined from a year ago, the group of 27 companies based in Europe recorded an increase in earnings, partly due to the absence of huge impairments.
The European group reduced collective 2016 capital spending by 12% from a year ago. Shell's capital spending contracted by 15%, while BP cut capital outlays by 10%. Total SA and Statoil contracted their capital outlays by 27% and 21%, respectively.
In Latin America, Petrobras reported a net loss of 4.8 billion in 2016, compared to a net loss of $8.4 billion posted in 2015. The company's impairment losses in 2016 were 50% lower when compared to 2015. Brazil represented 94% of Petrobras's worldwide oil and gas production in 2016.
Reporting assets of $345 billion, PetroChina Co. Ltd. is the largest of the Asia Pacific companies in the OGJ100, followed by Malaysia's Petronas.
In 2016, PetroChina's assets, revenue, and profits all declined as compared with a year ago. The company's worldwide proved oil reserves declined 12.7%, and its total crude oil output declined 5.3%. In 2016, the oil and gas equivalent output from overseas operations represented 13.7% of the total of the company.
Leaders in reserves, production
State-owned companies continue to dominate world reserves and production.
Saudi Aramco and Iraq National Oil Co. (INOC) top the list of the world's leading oil producers for 2016, and their oil production increased 3% and 33%, respectively, from a year ago. OAO Rosneft is third among the largest oil producers, with oil output rising 4% to 1.53 billion bbl. With oil production up 11%, National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) is No. 4, followed by Kuwait Petroleum Corp. and PetroChina Co. Ltd.
Collectively, oil output in 2016 by the top 20 oil producers totaled 18.6 billion bbl, up from 18.2 billion bbl a year ago.
With 302.25 billion bbl, Petroleos de Venezuela SA continues to head the list of companies with the largest proved oil reserves, followed by Saudi Aramco, NIOC, and INOC.
Gazprom was the largest natural gas producer in 2016, followed by NIOC, Qatar Petroleum Corp., and Shell.
NIOC continues to top the list of companies with the largest proved gas reserves, followed by INOC, Qatar Petroleum Corp., and Gazprom.