Baku News

17 April 2007 [17:50] - The Messenger - Petroleum Intelligence Weekly has published its annual ranking of the world's 50 largest oil companies, this ranking is the leading source of comparative performance assessments on all the world's oil companies. While Saudi Aramco and Exxon Mobil remain entrenched at the top, mergers, acquisitions and state consolidation continue to make their mark. The report states that 20 countries of the world own 94 percent of the hydrocarbon supply, totalling 1.4 trillion barrels. Out of that amount Azeri hydrocarbon supply totals 14 billion barrels (more than 1.9 billion tons). According to the supply amount countries including Angola (16 billion barrels), Mexico (20 billion barrels) and China (24 billion barrels) outrun Azerbaijan. Saudi Arabia remains in first place with 289 billion barrels and in last place is Norway with 10 billion barrels reports the news agency Regnum. Russian gas giant Gazprom, aided by its acquisition of Sibneft, continues to forge ahead, gaining nine places to reach number 15 on its march toward the top ten. Similarly, new assets helped Rosneft advance five spots to number 26. The US again dominates this year's rankings with ten firms in the Top 50, followed by Russia with six and the UK and Canada with three each.