In this article, we take a look at the top 15 independent oil and gas companies in the world.
Independent oil and gas companies are neither publicly traded, nor state-owned, but are fully owned by private equity. These are the producers and/or distributors of various petrochemical products, including, but not limited to, crude oil, natural gas, gasoline, kerosene, and diesel.
While most oil and gas companies specify their operations in terms of exploration and production (Upstream), transportation and storage (Midstream), and refining and marketing (Downstream), large companies like Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) integrate all three streams within their operations.
Latest Developments in the Energy Industry
As a consequence of Russia’s war with Ukraine, which began at the start of 2022, there has been a surge in oil and gas prices across the globe. During the same year, the global oil demand also increased by 140,000 barrels per day. As a result, S&P 500’s energy sector index grew by at least 58% in 2022 while the other 11 sectors were facing a downturn. This development has caused oil and gas giants to make record profits in the past year, and these values are expected to rise further in 2023.
According to an estimate, the collective profits gained by the oil and gas industry worldwide increased by $2.5 trillion in 2022 alone. During this year, the profit made by the top oil and gas companies in the United States and Europe amounted to a whopping $150 billion. Among these, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) increased its annual revenue by $47.9 billion from the previous year and Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX)’s profits increased trifold from 2021.
The British energy company Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL), on the other hand, recorded a profit of $42.3 billion in the fiscal year 2022, which more than doubled from 2021. In this regard, Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) and Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL) were among the biggest winners in the energy industry in 2022.
On the flip side, the oil and gas industry also had to face an increase in production costs, causing the collective upstream expenditure to grow by almost a hundred billion dollars, up to $450 billion in 2022.
Outlook
The oil and gas industry is facing the challenge of meeting the global demand for energy while ensuring that it remains affordable and sustainable. To further complicate things, the World Bank has predicted that global growth will decrease to 2.7% in 2024, landing half of the European Union countries in a possible recession.
This will lower the global demand for oil and gas. On the supply side, the non-OPEC suppliers of oil and gas are expected to increase their supply by 1.5bpd in 2023, with the United States contributing almost three-quarters of the total quantity.
In the longer term, the world’s leading oil and gas companies have been forced to formulate their climate targets for 2030, after a group of investors campaigned for shifting the focus back to sustainable energy from energy security.
According to McKinsey’s estimate, the global supply of oil will decrease in 2035 after reaching its peak in the year 2025. While this is bad news for the oil and gas industry at large, oilfield services and refineries, especially those in Europe, will face the brunt of the crisis. It is also imperative for countries such as Algeria and Azerbaijan, whose economies depend largely on oil revenue, to begin diversifying their revenue streams for the longer term.
One of the biggest challenges that the energy industry is facing is the global shift towards decarbonization and clean energy. Many governments have started investing in sustainable energy sources in an attempt to minimize the use of fossil fuels.
Denmark, for example, has decided to end the production of oil and gas in the North Sea by 2050. In these circumstances, oil and gas companies need to exhibit economic resilience while also adapting low-carbon practices. In this regard, Occidental Petroleum of the United States has taken the initiative by building a plant to bury around 500,000 metric tons of CO₂ annually.
Photo by Robin Sommer on Unsplash
Methodology
For our list, we’ve defined “independent companies” as ones which are not public or state-owned, but privately held, since public companies are accountable to their investors and state-run companies are answerable to the state.
We have further defined the top independent oil and gas companies in the world based on their revenue. In this regard, we’ve ranked them in ascending order of high revenue and gathered the publicly available revenue data from sources like Forbes, Bloomberg, and The Economic Times, among others.
Here are the top 15 independent oil and gas companies in the world:
15. Flywheel Energy
2022 Revenue: $6.65 million
Flywheel Energy is a private limited company founded in Oklahoma, United States. Its primary operations include the exploration and production of oil and natural gas. Since its incorporation in 2017, Flywheel Energy has made almost $2.1 billion in acquisitions. In the third quarter of 2022, it bought the shale properties of Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM) in Arkansas, which added nearly 5000 natural gas wells and a pipeline spanning 381,000 acres to Flywheel’s assets.
14. Oilmax Energy
2022 Revenue: $7.25 million
Founded in 2008 in Mumbai, India, Oilmax Energy Private Limited has since expanded its business from India to Myanmar, Romania, and Nigeria. Their diverse portfolio includes, but is not limited to, the exploration and production of oil and gas along with engineering procurement, and construction.
Oilmax Energy has recently gained the ownership of Charaideo conventional oil field and is expected to start commercial production before the end of the current year. This will increase Oilmax Energy’s crude oil production by approximately 979 barrels per day in 2024.
13. Rockcliff Energy
2022 Revenue: $40 million
Rockcliff Energy is a private equity-funded company incorporated in Texas, United States and is one of the biggest private oil companies in the world. Its primary functions include the acquisition and development of oil and gas assets that are mainly located in the Ark-La-Tex and Permian Basin regions. After facing a total production decline of 5.48% in the first quarter of 2022, Rockcliff now produces upwards of one billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.
12. Covey Park Energy
2022 Revenue: $50 million
Based in Dallas, Texas, this oil and gas exploration and production company has reported annual revenue of $50 million in 2022. It specializes in acquiring and developing life-long reserves of crude oil and natural gas, and holds the largest acreage in the Haynesville shales. In order to boost its returns on investment, the company’s management drills for natural gas at locations that are low-risk and high-margin.
11. Essar Oil
2022 Revenue: $83 million
Essar Oil is an integrated private limited company based in India, which focuses on the exploration and production of oil and natural gas, crude oil refining, and retail of petroleum goods. Towards the end of 2022, the company reported its profits to have quadrupled since the third quarter of the year. Essar Oil’s Q4, 2022 revenue also increased by 54%, compared to the fourth quarter of 2021.
10. Aethon Energy
2022 Revenue: $105 million
Aethon Energy is primarily associated with upstream oil and gas functions, which include the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas. It was incorporated in Dallas in 1990, and has expanded its operations to Louisiana and Wyoming ever since. In 2022, Aethon Energy’s crude oil and natural gas production grew by 42.16% compared to 2021.
9. Ascent Resources
2022 Revenue: $161 million
Based in Ohio, United States, Ascent Resources is ranked as the largest producer of natural gas within the state. It holds assets spanning 352,000 acres and has a production capacity of 13,000 barrels per day of oil and its equivalent products, making it one of the top independent oil and gas companies in the world. In September 2022, Ascent Resources reported a net quarterly income of $47 million.
8. Llog Exploration
2022 Revenue: $269 million
Llog Exploration ranks among United States’ top oil and natural gas exploration and production companies. This private equity-funded company was founded in 1977 in Louisiana, United States, and its operations are centered in the Gulf of Mexico. During their 44 years of business, their teams have drilled 77 deepwater exploration wells and have a 94% deepwater development success rate.
7. Mewbourne Oil Co.
2022 Revenue: $293 million
Mewbourne Oil Company is another one of the top independent oil and gas companies in the world. It is based in Tyler, Texas, United States, and provides oil and gas exploration, and production services to its clients. Ever since its incorporation in 1965, the company has expanded its operations to Permian Basins, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. They currently operate over 2,500 wells with their depth levels ranging from 3,000 to 20,000 feet.
6. Lewis Energy Group
2022 Revenue: $772 million
Lewis Energy Group is an upstream oil company which focuses on exploring and drilling wells of oil and natural gas. This company was founded in 1983 in San Antonio, Texas, United States. An interesting fact about their operations is that they own all of their drilling rigs and servicing equipment, which helps them to stay in business even when their competitors shut their businesses during financial crunches.
5. Terra Energy
2022 Revenue: $2.29 billion
Terra Energy is a private limited company created in 2015 in Houston, Texas, United States. Its primary functions include the exploration and processing of crude oil and natural gas. Its assets are located in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Alberta in Canada.
Terra operates 5,300 wells in the Piceance Basin. Its current production capacity is around 500 million cubic feet of natural gas per day, which lands it among the top independent oil and gas producers in the United States.
4. Petrofac
2022 Revenue: $3.1 billion
Petrofac Ltd is an oilfield services company incorporated in London, United Kingdom, with its operations expanding over UAE, India, Saudi Arabia, and Malaysia. Petrofac is an integrated company and its functions include the construction and operation of upstream oil and gas infrastructure and facilities for its clients. During the past year, its annual revenue decreased by 25.1%.
Even though the Petrofac faced a challenging year, with a loss of $100 million, its CEO is optimistic about the company’s performance in 2023. Petrofac is expected to be awarded project contracts worth $68 billion before the end of the current year. The maximum production capacity of Petrofac is 1.5 million barrels of crude oil per day.
3. Hilcorp
2022 Revenue: $3.8 billion
Hilcorp is a private limited company incorporated in Texas, United States, which explores and produces oil and natural gas. It is termed America’s fourth-largest private producer of onshore crude oil and natural gas and has achieved an annual revenue growth rate of 4% over the last 3 years.
Hilcorp’s daily production capacity is approximately 1.2 million barrels. Some of the areas where it operates include the Northeast United States, the North Slope, and the Gulf Coast of Texas and Louisiana.
2. Reliance Industries
2022 Revenue: $37.02 billion
Reliance Industries is the largest private sector company in India and ranks 100th on the Fortune 500’s list of the world’s biggest corporations. It produces approximately 1 million barrels of crude oil equivalent products per day. The company’s annual revenue increased by 15.3% in the year 2022. Its operations include the exploration and production of oil and natural gas along with the manufacture of petroleum products. The global market for Reliance Industries products spans over 100 countries.
1. Koch Industries
2022 Revenue: $125 billion
Founded in 1940 in Kansas, United States, Koch Industries now ranks #2 on Forbes 2022 list of America’s largest private companies. The Koch family, which owns the company and its subsidiaries, is named America’s second richest family and has a net worth of $100 billion.
Their primary functions within the oil industry include manufacturing, refining, and distribution of petroleum and its associated goods. With an estimated annual revenue figure exceeding $125 billion, Koch Industries has expanded its business to more than 70 countries across the world. Their estimated production capacity is 800,000 barrels per day.
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