Conglin Xu
Senior Editor-Economics
Leena Koottungal
Survey Editor/News Writer
Oil & Gas Journal's latest look at the top 100 oil and gas producing companies based outside the US shows that profits were down worldwide last year, weighted by the sharp decline in crude oil prices in the second half of the year as well as the stronger US dollar.
The OGJ100 list of major non-US companies allows comparison of size and performance of prominent companies throughout the world. The companies are listed by region according to the location of corporate headquarters rather than ranked by assets or revenues, since many do not report financial results.
Two Canadian companies included last year no longer appear in this year's OGJ100 list: Sonde Resources Corp. filed for bankruptcy, and Petrobank Energy & Resources Ltd. merged with Touchstone Exploration Inc. Touchstone and Crescent Point Energy Corp. join the list instead.
There were no replacements of companies in the top 20 list of oil producers and reserves holders, although the order has changed. State-owned companies continue to dominate both lists.
Top 20 in oil production, reserves
Oil production of the top 20 producers based outside the US averaged 49.3 million b/d in 2014 vs. 48.7 million b/d in 2013.
Unchanged from the previous OGJ100, the world's top two oil producers in terms of volume are Saudi Aramco and OAO Rosneft. During 2014, Iraq National Oil Co. overtook National Iranian Oil Co. (NIOC), which is now No. 4, as the No. 3 oil producer.
Reporting production of 1 billion bbl last year, an increase of 9.2%, Abu Dhabi Co. has moved up to No. 6 from the No. 7 producer in the previous OGJ100.
BP PLC has slipped to No. 12 from No. 11 with total year 2014 output down 4.5% to 665.4 million bbl, partly reflecting the Abu Dhabi onshore concession expiry. Production from Total SA declined 11.4% to 377.4 million bbl. Royal Dutch Shell PLC's 2014 oil production dipped 4.2%.
With reported crude reserves of 298 billion bbl, Petroleos de Venezuela SA exceeds the second leading company, Saudi Aramco, with 32 billion bbl in reserves, and the third, NIOC, with 140 billion bbl.
Petroleo Brasileiro SA moved up to 13th from 14th on the reserves list from a year earlier, with updated reserves of 11.1 billion bbl.
Based on the latest OGJ estimates, the top 20 reserves leaders control 78% of total world crude oil reserves (OGJ, Dec. 1, 2014, p. 30).
If the top 20 production and reserve leaders tables included international oil companies headquartered in the US, ExxonMobil Corp. would rank 14th in worldwide liquids production and 5th in worldwide liquids reserves. Chevron Corp. would be 16th in terms of worldwide liquids production.
Financial results
Collectively, reported earnings of the OGJ100 companies declined 17.1% in 2014 from a year earlier. Total reported revenues dipped 2.6%.
For the 2014 full year, BP's profit was $4 billion, down from $23.75 billion a year ago which included a $12.5 billion gain relating to the disposal of their interest in TNK-BP.
EnCana Corp. reported 2014 net earnings of $3.39 billion compared with year-ago earnings of $236 million. Results for 2014 included gains on divestitures of about $3.4 billion (before tax).
In Latin America, Petroleo Brasileiro SA posted a loss of $7.5 billion for 2014 that was caused by impairment charges, down from earnings of $10.83 billion a year earlier. Petroleos Mexicanos reported a loss of $36 billion last year following a loss of $13 billion posted in 2013 because of lower prices for oil exports and the devalued peso.
PetroChina's 2014 earnings declined 16.5% to $19.32 billion, primarily attributable to the sharp drop in oil prices.