In the article, we discuss the 25 largest energy companies according to their market capitalization. You can skip the industry analysis and go directly to the 10 Largest Energy Companies In the World.
The energy sector is a $6 trillion industry that employed around 6.8 million people in the United States in 2022. The energy industry can be divided into two major subgroups, non-renewable or conventional energy, and renewable energy. The non-renewable energy sector includes petroleum and gas products, nuclear, and coal. Renewable energy sources include wind power generation, biofuels, hydroelectric power, and solar power.
Conventional Energy Market
In 2022, conventional energy with the exception of nuclear energy accounted for 85% of the global energy supply. According to a report by McKinsey, the global coal demand reached its peak in 2013 and saw a rise in demand again in 2021. However, it is expected to go in the downward direction from then onwards. Additionally, International Energy Agency (IEA) believes that electricity production from coal in the United States will reduce from 20% in 2022 to 17% in 2024.
When it comes to fossil fuels, oil, and natural gas are the most commonly used sources of energy. According to IEA, the global oil demand is expected to rise by 1.9 million barrels a day to a record 101.7 million barrels a day. The most significant demand will be seen by jet fuel at 840,000 barrels of oil per day. McKinsey believes that the global oil demand is expected to peak between 2023 and 2025. However, it will be 35% to 50% lower by 2050 due to the global transition toward renewable energy sources. A significant decline in demand is expected to be caused by the rise in electric vehicles, which according to IEA will account for 60% of new car sales by 2030.
According to the IEA, the global gas demand was 87.9 billion cubic feet per day. The McKinsey report states that it will grow by 10%-20% by 2035 and will likely experience a decline afterward.
Currently, the global market leaders in the conventional energy market are Exxon Mobil Corporation (NYSE:XOM), Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX), and Shell plc (NYSE:SHEL).
Effects of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine on the Conventional Energy Market
The Russian invasion of Ukraine was one of the most significant events that created uncertainty in the global conventional energy market as a huge part of Europe has been dependent on Russian fuel. The invasion led to the US President Joe Biden issuing an executive order to ban Russian imports and the United Kingdom took the same route. Due to the European Union's dependency on Russian fossil fuels, it did not cut off the imports entirely but decided to reduce them by around two-thirds, mostly due to Germany and Netherlands' reluctance. In 2021, Russia accounted for 13% of the global crude oil supply and 45% of the global natural gas imports, along with 40% of the European Union's demand. On top of that, the country was also responsible for almost 18% of global coal imports.
The aforementioned series of decisions led the global supply of fossil fuels to fall and demand to rise significantly. Consequently, crude oil prices went skyrocketing to $110 per barrel in March 2022 from $76 at the beginning of the year. For 2023, S&P Global forecasted that the global oil supply and demand will start to balance out. However, the effects of cutting off Russian oil had more severe repercussions than expected and the global market will take a few years to return to normal levels. The firm expects the growth to be slower in 2023 than in 2022 at 1.7 million barrels per day compared to the prior year's 4.5 million barrels per day. Nevertheless, the prices of fuel commodities are expected to alleviate over the year.
Renewable Energy Market
According to Allied Market Research, the global renewable energy market was worth $881.7 billion in 2020 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.4% to almost $2 trillion by 2030. The previously mentioned McKinsey report states that due to the move towards renewable energy and decarbonization, the energy sector is expected to grow by 4% per annum and annual supply and production investments are most likely to reach $1.5 trillion to $1.6 by 2035.
Toward the decarbonization of the energy mix, electrification is considered the first step. Electricity generation through wind, solar, and hydrogen power is expected to account for almost 50% of the global power mix by 2035 and then increase to 85% by 2050. Moreover, among the renewable energy sources, green hydrogen is expected to cover 28% of the global power demand by the end of the forecasted period. In the article, we previously mentioned the fall in electricity production from coal. The IEA expects that to be counteracted by renewable energy sources as they rise from 22% in 2022 to 24% in 2024.
With the growing demand for renewable energy, even the big players in the conventional energy market are making a shift toward it. Even the oil supermajors have started to invest in renewable energy projects with BP p.l.c. (NYSE:BP) becoming the first one among them to invest a noteworthy amount.
At the moment the companies aiming toward becoming the global renewable energy giants include NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE:NEE), Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB), and Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) along with several others.
For this article, we identified the biggest energy companies by market capitalization and listed them in ascending order. Most of the data about these companies were taken from their respective websites, articles by other researchers from Insider Monkey, and several other sources that have been linked to their respective places. Note that we only chose the companies whose primary source of revenue was energy.
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) is a Texas-based midstream oil and gas company that was founded in 1968.
Enterprise Products Partners L.P. (NYSE:EPD) has over 50,000 miles of pipelines, more than 260 million barrels of oil storage capacity, 18 fractionation facilities, and 20 deep-water docks. It is the fourth-largest pipeline company in the world by market capitalization.
24. Enel SpA (ENEL.MI)
Market Cap as of February 23: $57.37 billion
Enel SpA (ENEL.MI) is an Italian energy and gas provider. It was privatized in 1999, and its main shareholder is the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance. The company became the first firm to design smart meters in 2021 and established the first renewable energy power plant in North America in 2004.
Enel SpA (ENEL.MI) launched Enel X Way in April 2022, a subsidiary dedicated to electric mobility.
23. VERBUND AG (OEWA.F)
Market Cap as of February 23: $59.64 billion
VERBUND AG (OEWA.F) is Austria’s largest energy company. Almost 40% of the country’s energy needs are fulfilled by the company. The company is primarily focused on renewable energy and aims to cover 20-25% of Europe's total renewable energy market. Furthermore, the company aims to make a name for itself in Europe as one of the major hydrogen firms.
VERBUND AG (OEWA.F) produces most of its energy (over 31.5 GigaWatt per hour) through hydropower plants. Moreover, it also operates wind power plants, solar farms, and a thermal power plant that produce 924 GWh, 1 GWh, and 1,033 GWh of electricity, respectively.
Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) is a Canadian oil and natural gas company primarily operating in Western Canada along with offshore operations in the Ivory Coast, the North Sea, and the Gabonese Republic.
Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) will report its fourth-quarter earnings on March 2, 2023. However, taking the company’s Q3 2022 report into consideration, it produced 1.277 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d) and expects increased production in 2023. According to the company’s 2021 annual report, Canadian Natural Resources Limited (NYSE:CNQ) has proven and probable reserves of 16.950 billion barrels of oil equivalent (BOE).
The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) is one of America’s largest regulated electric companies. The company, through its subsidiaries, serves 9 million customers across 6 U.S. states.
The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) produces electricity through wind power, solar power, nuclear power, and a few other sources. It also operates battery storage solutions and microgrids.
EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG) is a Texas-based hydrocarbon exploration company focused on petroleum, natural gas, and natural gas liquids. The company generates energy from solar farms, wind power plants, bioenergy, and a single nuclear plant in Georgia, USA. The nuclear power plant is operated by EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG)’s subsidiary Georgia Power, which expects to produce 5.5 GigaWatt (GW) of electricity by 2025.
EOG Resources, Inc. (NYSE:EOG) posted FY 2022 results on March 23, which showed a significant surge in its year-over-year (YoY) revenue and net income. The company reported a revenue of $25.7 billion and a net income of $7.76 billion, representing an increase of 37.87% and 66.36% YoY, respectively.
19. Iberdrola, S.A. (IBE.MC)
Market Cap as of February 23: $71.09 billion
Iberdrola, S.A. (IBE.MC) is a Spanish electric utilities company listed on the Madrid Stock Exchange (Bolsa de Madrid). It is one of the largest wind power production companies in the world. The company claims that 80% of electricity production is emission-free.
In 2022, Iberdrola, S.A. (IBE.MC) had an installed wind capacity of 60.76 GW and plans to exceed its renewable capacity by 52 GW by 2025. Apart from wind power production facilities, the company also operates nuclear power plants and thermal power plants. Iberdrola, S.A. (IBE.MC) serves approximately 32 million customers in several parts of the world.
18. CNOOC Limited (0883.HK)
Market Cap as of February 23: $74.57
CNOOC Limited (0883.HK) is a Chinese oil and gas exploration and production company based in Hong Kong and trades on The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. The company owns most of its assets in China. However, it has offshore operations in almost every continent of the world.
CNOOC Limited (0883.HK) achieved several milestones in 2022. According to the company, it boasted 22 new business discoveries. Furthermore, CNOOC Limited (0883.HK) also owns the world's first 100,000-ton deep-water semi-submersible production and storage platform, Shenhai No. 1.
Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK) is one of the top energy companies in the United States. The firm's energy services are comprised of the distribution of natural gas, electricity, and renewable energy.
Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK)’s 7.7 million clients receive electrical energy in six states while the natural gas distribution segment has 1.6 million customers spread across five states. The company owns an energy generation capacity of 50,000 megawatts (MW).
Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE:DUK)’s strategy of becoming completely green has seen it set a goal of abandoning coal completely by 2035 while it plans to execute a carbon emissions reduction of 80% by 2040 for Scope 1 emissions and 50% reduction by 2035 for Scope 2 and 3.
Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) is an American oil and gas services and equipment company headquartered in Houston, Texas. The company is engaged in digital & integration, reservoir performance, well construction, and production systems.
On February 6, Schlumberger Limited (NYSE:SLB) announced the acquisition of a privately held oil field services company, Gyrodata Incorporated. The acquisition will result in enhanced wellbore quality and minimalize drilling hazards to expand the exploration of obscure and complicated reservoirs.
15. Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (NYSE:PBR)
Market Cap as of February 23: $76.24 billion
Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) is a Brazilian state owned oil and gas company. It focuses primarily on heavy oil and accounts for 70% of the country’s oil production. At the end of FY 2022, Petróleo Brasileiro S.A. - Petrobras (NYSE:PBR) oil and gas production was 2.68 million BOE/d, slightly above the company’s outlook of 2.6 million BOE/d.
Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB) is one of the biggest energy companies in North America. The company is involved in the transport, storage, and transmission of liquids, natural gas, and renewable energy. 30% of crude oil in North America and 20% of natural gas in the U.S. is transported by the company.
To make its net zero emissions goal a reality, Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB) has chosen Europe as its site for establishing offshore wind projects. Saint-Nazaire in France was completed in 2022 and another project, Fécamp, is expected to be completed in 2023.
To date, Enbridge Inc. (NYSE:ENB) has 23 wind farms with 4,870 MW gross capacity, 17 solar energy projects with 265 MW gross capacity, and more.
13. China Shenhua Energy Company Limited (601088.SS)
Market Cap as of February 23: $77.20 billion
China Shenhua Energy Company Limited (601088.SS) is a Chinese state-owned coal-based energy company. The company operates seven segments including coal, electricity, new energy, coal-to-chemicals, railway, port handling, and shipping.
At 340 million tonnes of approved production capacity, China Shenhua Energy Company Limited (601088.SS) represents 8% of China’s total coal production.
12. China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (600028.SS)
Market Cap as of February 23: $77.38 billion
China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (600028.SS) also known as Sinopec ltd. is a subsidiary of China Petrochemical Corporation which is the world’s largest hydrocarbon conglomerate. It is listed on the Shanghai stock exchange with the ticker symbol 600028.SS.
In 2022, China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation (600028.SS) began constructing the world’s largest green hydrogen factory which is expected to produce 20,000 tonnes of hydrogen per year.
Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) is a Norwegian Integrated oil and gas company. The company is also working towards penetrating the renewable energy market with wind power plants, solar parks, and carbon capture solutions.
According to the company’s 2021 annual reports, Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR) had over 5.35 billion BOE of reserves. Moreover, in February 2023, the company announced the discovery of approximately 47 million barrels of oil reserves.
