Saudi Aramco was ranked as the world's top oil company in an annual survey released this week by energy trade publication Petroleum Intelligence Weekly (PIW).
PIW's rankings of the world's 50 largest oil companies are based on operational results for 2002, the latest annual data available. Saudi Aramco placed first among all companies surveyed in the categories of crude oil reserves and production, and was ranked number-one overall.
In this year's rankings, ExxonMobil holds the number-two position ahead Petroleos de Venezuela. The National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) ranked number-four and Royal Dutch/Shell came in at number-five.
Saudi Aramco has held the top ranking for 15 straight years. The company is responsible for about one-quarter of the world's total reserves of crude oil. It ranks fourth in world gas reserves, eighth in gas production, sixth in petroleum product sales and ninth in refining capacity. Its 54,000-strong workforce is 21st in size among the companies surveyed.
PIW is published by the Energy Intelligence Group (EIG), an independent company based in New York with bureaus in Washington, London, Houston, Moscow and Singapore. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
