Industry Structure
The American Petroleum Institute divides the petroleum industry into five sectors:
- upstream (exploration, development and production of crude oil or natural gas)
- downstream (oil tankers, refiners, retailers and consumers)
- pipeline
- marine
- service and supply
Oil companies used to be classified by sales as "supermajors" (BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Shell, Eni and Total S.A.), "majors", and "independents" or "jobbers". In recent years however, National Oil Companies (NOC, as opposed to IOC, International Oil Companies) have come to control the rights over the largest oil reserves; by this measure the top ten companies all are NOC. The following table shows the ten largest national oil companies ranked by reserves and by production.
| Rank | Company | Worldwide Liquids Reserves (109 bbl) | Worldwide Natural Gas Reserves (1012 ft3) | Total Reserves in Oil Equivalent Barrels (109 bbl) | Company | Production (106 bbl/d) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Saudi Aramco | 260 | 254 | 303 | Saudi Aramco | 11.0 |
| 2 | National Iranian Oil Company | 138 | 948 | 300 | National Iranian Oil Company | 4.0 |
| 3 | Qatar Petroleum | 15 | 905 | 170 | Kuwait Petroleum Corporation | 3.7 |
| 4 | Iraq National Oil Company | 116 | 120 | 134 | Iraq National Oil Company | 2.7 |
| 5 | Petróleos de Venezuela | 99 | 171 | 129 | Petróleos de Venezuela | 2.6 |
| 6 | Abu Dhabi National Oil Company | 92 | 199 | 126 | Abu Dhabi National Oil Company | 2.6 |
| 7 | Kuwait Petroleum Corporation | 102 | 56 | 111 | Petróleos Mexicanos | 2.5 |
| 8 | Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation | 36 | 184 | 68 | Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation | 2.3 |
| 9 | Libya NOC | 41 | 50 | 50 | Libya NOC | 2.1 |
| 10 | Sonatrach | 12 | 159 | 39 | Lukoil | 1.9 |
Most upstream work in the oil field or on an oil well is contracted out to drilling contractors and oil field service companies.
Read more about this topic: History Of The Petroleum Industry
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