Oil & Gas Journal's survey of the 100 leading oil and gas producers based outside the US shows that most of these firms posted improved financial results from a year earlier. Higher operating costs offset strong oil and gas prices, though, for some of the companies.
The OGJ100 list of oil and gas producers allows for the comparison of size and results of the entities for which financial results and production and reserves data are available. For many of the national oil companies included in the report, no such 2008 information on assets, revenues, earnings, or capital expenditures is available. So the 100 companies are grouped by region according to locations of corporate headquarters, and only the leaders in oil production and reserves are ranked.
Top 20 in production
Leading the OGJ100 list of oil production leaders for 2008 is Saudi Aramco, which reported total output of 3.25 billion bbl for the year. Aramco's total oil production a year earlier was 3.1 billion bbl.
With total oil production of 1.4 billion bbl, National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC) was the second-leading producer, followed by Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) and Petroleos Mexicanos.
Pemex, which has faced declining output since 2004, reported oil production totaling 1.02 billion bbl for 2008, down from 1.125 billion bbl a year earlier. A handful of other companies on the list of oil output leaders also reported a decline in production from 2007, including Total SA, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, and BP PLC.
Oil reserves leaders
Aramco, NIOC, Iraq National Oil Co., and Kuwait Petroleum Corp. lead the OGJ100 in oil reserves. These are the same entities that led the list a year ago.
With 99.377 billion bbl, PDVSA is fifth among the oil reserves leaders. This amount, unchanged from the previous edition of the OGJ100 (OGJ, Sept. 15, 2008, p. 34), includes proved developed and undeveloped reserves of extra-heavy crude oil.
PDVSA has released more recent figures listing such reserves at 172.323 billion bbl. Including only the developed reserves, PDVSA pegs its proved oil reserves at 16.298 billion bbl.
Financial results
As they did the US-based producers, high operating costs affected the 2008 financial results of the OGJ100 companies.
Although Shell reported 29% higher revenues, higher costs and taxes resulted in a 15% decline in the company's 2008 earnings.
In terms of total assets at yearend 2008, EnCana Corp. is the largest Canadian operator. The Calgary-based company, which plans to split into two companies by the end of this year, reported assets of $47.2 billion and a 50% jump to $5.9 billion in earnings from a year earlier. The earnings gain was primarily due to an after-tax unrealized mark-to-market hedging gain.
Collectively, the Canadian companies in the group posted a 38% increase in 2008 earnings from a year earlier. The group's combined capital and exploration spending climbed 26% to $50.2 billion.
The group of firms based in Europe reported a combined 34% surge in 2008 capital spending, led by StatoilHydro, BP, and Shell. Capital spending by the Asian producers jumped, also, led by PetroChina Co. Ltd.
Click here to download pdf of the OGJ100: Leading Oil and Gas Companies Outside the US.
