The global oil and gas industry continues to be hit by one of the worst recessions in 30 years as a perfect storm of overproduction and geopolitical tensions have led to a plunge in oil prices. In fact, the total revenue of each of our 2021 list of the world's largest oil and gas companies has declined compared to two years ago.
However, the truth remains that the industry has produced some of the largest companies in known history. Here are the top 10 reports as of 2021.
10. Reliance Industries
Revenue: $42.2 billion
Country of origin: India
Founded: 1966
Employees: 23,853
Reliance Industries is a Mumbai-based company founded in 1966 by Dhirubhai Hirachand Ambani. Reliance has subsidiaries in a number of different sectors, including oil, gas, petrochemicals, textiles, retail, telecommunications and media.
By market capitalization, Reliance is the largest public company in India. In October 2017, Reliance became the first Indian company to reach the $100 billion market capitalization milestone. They are India's largest exporter, accounting for 8% of the country's total merchandise exports, highlighting their dominance in India's industrial sector. The company has $91.54 billion in assets.
9. Rosneft
Revenue: $80.8 billion
Country of origin: Russia
Founded: 1993
Employees: 48,000
Rosneft is a Russian oil and gas company with the title of the world's largest listed oil company and a leader in the Russian oil industry.
Rosnefts' focus areas include prospecting and exploration, production and refining. The company has a truly global presence, with assets and interests in Venezuela, Norway, Germany, Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, China and Myanmar. Their refining and production operations include 13 large refineries, 3 petrochemical plants and 4 gas processing plants across Russia.
Despite the sluggish global oil prices over the past two years, Rosneft has steadily growing economically recoverable oil and gas reserves, which sets it apart from its competitors. In total, the company has more than $139 billion in assets.
8. OJSC Lukoil
Revenue: $90.4 billion
Founded: 1991
Employees: 110,000
Lukoil was founded in 1991 by the merger of three Russian state-owned Western Siberian companies, Langepasneftegaz, Urayneftegaz and Kogalymneftegaz. Prior to Lukoil's formation, the three companies were engaged in exploration, refining and distribution. However, President Vagit Alekperov believes that the only way for post-Soviet Russian companies to beat their Western rivals is to replicate their business models, allowing him to merge the three branches together.
Today, Lukoil is one of the few large private oil companies in Russia. In terms of proven oil and gas reserves, it is second only to ExxonMobil, which controls 1.3% of the world's reserves. It has $69 billion in assets and has spent more than $1.4 billion on exploration.
7. Gazprom
Revenue: $102.1 billion
Founded: 1989
Employees: 449,000
Gazprom is the third Russian company to make the list and the largest in the country. They mainly focus on the geological exploration and production of natural gas, but they are also interested in the transportation, storage, processing and marketing of natural gas and the production and sale of heat and electricity.
Gazprom is a world leader in natural gas reserves, accounting for 72% of Russia's total reserves and 17% of the world's total reserves. They hope to expand this area through major gas exploration and development projects in the Yamal Peninsula, the Arctic continental shelf, Eastern Siberia and the Russian Far East, as well as a number of hydrocarbon exploration and production projects around the world.
As Russia's largest producer and exporter of LNG, Gazprom is poised for the future in the rapidly expanding global LNG market. The company currently has $250.24 billion worth of assets.
6. Chevron
Revenue: $129.9 billion
Country of origin: United States
Founded: 1906
Employees: 61,000
Chevron's history dates back to 1879, when it was originally the Pacific Coast Oil Company. Although Standard Oil acquired the company in 1900, its dissolution led to its rebirth as Standard Oil in California. It was granted a 50-year concession with Saudi Aramco. Chevron was born before 1984, when the company merged with Gulf Oil, the largest merger in history at the time.
From the mid-1940s to the 1970s, Chevron was a member of the Seven Sisters, a collection of seven global oil companies that completely dominated the global oil industry. Today, Chevron has taken an interest in alternative electronics to energy, claiming to be the world's largest producer of geothermal energy.
In 2018, Chevron formally partnered with PayPal, taking an important step towards e-commerce. The deal means drivers can pay for fuel via PayPal as early as 2019.
5. Total Corporation
Revenue: $143 billion
Country of origin: France
Founded: 1924
Employees: 96,000
Total was founded shortly after World War I, when the French Prime Minister refused to establish a joint venture with Royal Dutch Shell and created the country's own company. It was then known as Compagnie Française des Pétroles. In 1985, it was renamed Total-CFP, and then in 1991 it was renamed Total. At its inception, the company benefited from France's 25% stake in Turkish Petroleum from Germany as reparations for World War I.
Total began his foray into alternative energy in 1975 and then into nuclear power in 2011. Total ranked 28th on the 2018 Fortune Global 500 list.
4. ExxonMobil
Revenue: $236.8 billion
Founded: 1999
Employees: 75,000
ExxonMobil is the result of the merger of two companies, the two companies of the John F. Kennedy D. Rockefeller's remnants of standard oil. The two companies in New Jersey and New York, later known as Exxon and Mobil, respectively, were giants in their own right. The merger created the largest corporation in the history of american companies.
ExxonMobil consists of three brands: Exxon, Mobil and Esso, each serving different countries around the world. ExxonMobil is considered the largest of the big oil giants, made up of seven or eight of the world's largest oil and gas companies.
3. Royal Dutch Shell
Revenue: $264.1 billion
Country of origin: United Kingdom /Netherlands
Founded: 1907
Employees: 93,000
The Royal Dutch Shell Company as we know it today was founded in the 19th century. At the time, it was referred to simply as Shell, through which Londoner Marcus Samuel imported shells from the East. Shell later passed to the Brothers Marcus Jr. and Sam Samuel. Marcus Jr. became interested in the oil export business. The company changed its name to Shell Transport and Trading in 1897 and then merged with the Royal Dutch Oil Company in 1907 to form the Royal Dutch Shell Group.
Within 20 years, Royal Dutch Shell has become the world's leading oil company. The company was restructured in 2005 when it dissolved the original partnership between Shell Transport and Royal Dutch Oil, formally unifying the two into Royal Dutch Shell. For the past 20 years, the company has consistently ranked in the top 10 of the Fortune Global 500 list.
In 2015, the company invested $1.1 billion in research and development. They currently hold more than $340 billion in assets.
2. China National Petroleum Corporation (PetroChina)
Revenue: $274.6 billion
Country of origin: China
Founded: 1988
Employees: 851,000
PetroChina is the state-owned parent company of listed company PetroChina and the largest integrated energy company in China. The company dates back to the Communist Revolution. It was developed as the gasoline division of the newly formed "Ministry of Fuel Industry".
Today, the company operates in four segments: Exploration and Production, Refining and Chemicals, Marketing, and Natural Gas and Pipelines. It is China's largest oil producer, and PetroChina is hailed as Asia's most profitable company.
In 2018, PetroChina signed important LNG deals with Qatar and Canada.
1. Sinopec
Revenue: $283.6 billion
Founded: 2000
Employees: 78,000
Sinopec, also known as Sinopec Corporation, is a major subsidiary of Sinopec Corporation (also known as Sinopec). The company is recognized as Asia's largest annual refiner, although its crude oil production is only a quarter of that of its rivals, PetroChina.
In just 15 years, Sinopec has partnered with or acquired a large number of oil and gas companies around the world, consolidating its position as the largest oil and gas company and fueling the rapidly developing Chinese economy. In 2009, Sinopec ranked 9th in the Fortune Global 500, becoming the first Chinese company to enter the top 10, and since rising to the second place in 2015, the ranking has risen year by year.
To strengthen clean energy efforts, the company announced in September 2018 an increased investment in geothermal heating in Xiong'an, Hebei Province.