Robert J. Beck
Economics Editor
Michelle WiLLiamson
Survey Editor
Because state-owned oil and gas companies dominate Oil & Gas Journal's list of largest non-U.S. producers, data aren't fully comparable with those of the OGJ300.
Many state companies report only production and reserves, with little or no financial data.
Companies on the OGJ100, therefore, cannot be ranked by assets or revenues. Instead, they are listed by region, based on location of corporate headquarters (see tables).
The leading nongovernment company in both reserves and production is Royal Dutch/Shell. It ranks 6th in the world in liquids production and 12th in liquids reserves. Shell was 6th in production the last 3 years and was 11th in reserves in 1991 and 1992.
British Petroleum is the next largest nongovernment company, ranking 12th in liquids production and 16th in liquids reserves.
Also on the list are Elf Aquitaine, which is 55.8% government-controlled. Elf ranked 17th in liquids production. Agip was 19th in liquids production.
No companies appear on this year's list of top 20 non-U.S. producers that didn't appear last year. But there were some changes in the rankings. The biggest change was Kuwait, which moved up to 8th position in worldwide production on the strength of strong output gains in 1993.
In 1993 the top 20 companies outside of the U.S. had crude production averaging 36.4 million b/d. This was 60.9% of total world production in 1993. In 1992 the top 20 produced 35.4 million b/d, which represented 59% of total world output.
There was no change in makeup of the top 20 holders of crude oil reserves. These companies' reserves totaled 872.3 billion bbl in 1993, compared with 869.3 billion bbl in 1992, 869.5 billion bbl in 1991, and 854.2 billion bbl in 1990.
The top 20 non-U.S. companies now control 87.3% of total world crude oil reserves, according to OGJ estimates. This is up marginally from 87.2% of total world oil reserves in 1992. The top 20 had 87.7% of total world reserves in 1991 and 85.5% in 1990.
The crude oil reserves-to-production ratio for the top 20 was 24 years in 1993, compared with 24.5 years in 1992.
Major international oil companies based in the U.S. are not included in the OGJ100 list, but several of them would rank in the top 20.
Exxon would rank 10th in worldwide liquids production and 15th in worldwide liquids reserves.
Other U.S. companies that would make the list of top oil producers in the world are Chevron 14th, Mobil 15th, Arco 18th, and Amoco 19th.
No other companies in the OGJ300 would make the top 20 reserves list.
Copyright 1994 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
