Oil giants amass $1.6 trillion in total revenue in 2018

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - The world's top 12 publicly-traded oil producing companies saw more than $1.6 trillion in total revenue in 2018, according to data compiled by Anadolu Agency on these firms' financial results.

American ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Halliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, British BP, Royal Dutch Shell, French Total S.A., Italy's Eni, Russia's Rosneft and Norway's Equinor saw their collective revenue and net income increase year-over-year.

These 12 companies saw their total revenue rise by 19.5 percent to around $1.69 trillion in 2018, from approximately $1.42 trillion in 2017, according to the data.

The oil giants also had their collective net income reach $116.74 billion last year -- a 73.7 percent increase from $67.22 billion from the previous year.

-Shell posts highest income, revenue

Royal Dutch Shell led the 12 oil and gas giants to post the highest net income and revenue last year.

The company had a net income of $23.35 billion in 2018, followed by ExxonMobil with earnings of $20.84 billion, and Chevron with income of $14.82 billion.

Shell had revenue of $388.4 billion for the full-year of 2018. While BP ranked second with $298.76 billion, ExxonMobil followed in third place with $290 billion.

For the highest percentage increase year-over-year, Rosneft and Equinor led the 12 oil companies.

Russian Rosneft saw its net income increase by 134 percent in 2018, compared to 2017, and Norway's Equinor had a revenue rise of 30 percent between those years.

-Oil prices gain around 30 percent

Much of the increase in net income and revenue for the oil giants was due to rising crude oil prices, which saw an increase of around 30 percent year-over-year.

International benchmark Brent crude averaged $71.19 per barrel in 2018 -- a 31.5 percent gain from 2017 when it averaged $54.15 a barrel, according to the U.S.' Energy Information Administration (EIA).

American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) increased 28.1 percent to average $65.06 per barrel last year, from $50.79 a barrel in 2017, the EIA data showed.

-OPEC cuts

Most of the increase in oil prices came after OPEC and its allies agreed in late 2016 to limit their crude production, which trimmed some of oversupply in the global oil market gradually through 2017 and 2018 and helped prices take off.

Saudi Arabia-led OPEC and Russia-led non-OPEC made their first cooperative agreement in 15 years on Dec. 10, 2016 to lower their total output by some 1.7 million barrels per day (bpd) and extended this until the end of 2017.

On the supply side, abrupt production cuts in Libya, substantial output declines in Venezuela, and the U.S. re-imposition of sanctions on Iran from Nov. 5, 2018 impeded global oil supply last year and pushed crude prices higher.

OPEC and its allies made a second historic agreement on Dec. 7, 2018 to lower their total crude production by 1.2 million bpd for the first six months of 2019, which is expected to push oil prices even higher this year.

Brent price hit $67.73 per barrel and WTI reached $57.81 a barrel on Feb. 22 -- their highest levels in the last three months.