Exxon MobilKAREN BLEIER/AFP / Getty Images
Exxon Mobil Corp. has regained its status as the world's largest publicly traded oil company as North America's turnaround in oil and gas production propelled broad gains for continental energy firms.
Measured by market capitalization, Irving, Tex.-based Exxon vaulted ahead of PetroChina Co. Ltd., the publicly traded subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corp., and reclaimed the top spot it relinquished in both 2007 and 2009, according to a survey by PFC Energy, a Washington, DC-based consulting firm.
One notable trend has been the improving fortunes of companies that focus their operations on the United States and Canada, as improvements in technology have boosted both natural gas and conventional oil production.
"Surprising production growth in recent years has come from a mature province once considered in terminal decline - onshore North America," PFC said in its study released Monday.
Analyst Rebecca Rosen said she expects the production growth to continue as companies adopt new technologies to unlock both gas and oil reserves that were previously too costly to tap.
"Unconventional resources is really considered the future and a lot of these companies own very admirable positions in unconventional resources like shale gas," said Ms. Rosen, manager of corporate advisory services for PFC. "I imagine by this time next year, the growth will be even more impressive."
PFC ranked the 50 leading international companies by shareholder value, as well as 15 independents. It also ranked 15 companies that got 80 per cent of their production from onshore North America.
The company based its market-cap ranking on the value of share prices on the last trading day of the year, expressed in U.S. dollars.
Several U.S.-based independents posted stellar gains in share prices, including Concho Resources Inc., with a 95-per-cent increase, and Pioneer Natural Resources Co., with an 80-per-cent jump. But with depressed natural gas prices, there were losers in the North American group, especially among gas producers like Calgary's EnCana Corp., which fell 9 per cent.
While emerging-market companies have seen their market value grow dramatically in recent years, 2010 was more of a mixed story, with some stunning increases and some major retreats.
At the same time, companies that focus on exploration and production outperformed the international super-majors, which also have refining and marketing. The independents saw an 18-per-cent increase in value on average, compared with 4 per cent for the international oil companies (IOCs).
Exxon posted a 14-per-cent increase in its market capitalization in 2010, to $368.7-billion (U.S.). That was fuelled by a 7-per-cent gain in share price and an increase in the total number of shares traded after it used stock to pay for its $31-billion acquisition of shale gas producer XTO Energy.
China's biggest oil company, PetroChina, fell to number 2, with its share price declining by 14 per cent in U.S. dollar terms, while its rival, China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., saw a stunning 41-per-cent decline in share price.
In contrast, the smallest among the Chinese troika of state-controlled, publicly traded companies - China National Offshore Oil Corp. - saw its share price soar by 51 per cent.
The two larger firms are major refining and marketers in China, and have seen their earnings squeezed by government price controls and increased refinery capacity in Asia. CNOOC is more of a pure exploration and production company.
Ms. Rosen said the mixed performance of Chinese companies was repeated across the board in emerging markets. Russia's state-controlled OAO Rosneft saw its share price fall 15 per cent, while Russian joint venture TNK-BP climbed 58 per cent.
But the emerging markets offered some stunning returns for discerning investors.
Among the star performers was Colombia's Ecopetrol SA, with a share price increase of 77 per cent. The national oil company increased its reserves by 11.4 per cent in 2010, and took advantage of one of the hottest oil plays in the Western world.