In this article we are going to list the 15 largest energy companies in the world. Click to skip ahead and jump to the 5 largest energy companies in the world.
The energy industry is arguably the most important industry in the world, and undoubtedly one of the most important industries in the world, worth over a trillion dollars and being the basis of the economy for many countries across the world. In 2018, $1.8 trillion were invested in the energy sector, which ensured some steadiness after years of investment decline in the industry.
The energy sector is also one of the most controversial sectors in the world, with the methods for producing energy coming under much scrutiny and fire, especially in developed economies. The energy sector comprises of many industries, including the fossil fuel industry, home to some of the biggest energy companies in the world, the electric generation industry, the nuclear power industry and the renewable energy industry. It is the fossil fuel industry which has been the most criticized among all the industries in the energy sector, mainly because that method of generating electricity is extremely harmful for the environment and is leading to global climate change, the effects of which we can see as global weather patterns have become erratic and much more extreme than in previous years. Hence, there has been a call from activists and environmentalists have for decades now, been protesting the use of fossil fuels and instead have asked the world to move to renewable energy resources, which has led to a strong rise in the renewable energy industry as well which includes solar, wind, hydro and geothermal industries. In fact, many countries in Europe have promised to end their reliance on fossil fuel industries and instead rely only on renewable resources for their electricity. If things continue the same way, energy industry emissions are expected to peak in 2024, after which there will be a decline. By 2050, if forecasts pan out, we will see 2 billion electric cars on the road.
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In the US, the energy sector is worth around 6% of the country’s GDP, and in 2018, investment in the US energy sector was valued at $350 billion, which was the second largest figure in the entire world. The industry supports millions of jobs across the country and hence, is integral to the success of the country and the economic conditions within the country as well. The country is also home to several top renewable energy companies and has the highest geothermal capacity in the world at 3.7 GW, the second highest hydropower capacity at 102.1 GW, second largest solar capacity at 67 GW and third largest bio-energy capacity at 14.2 GW. Even then, renewable energy companies generate only 20% of the electricity in the US today, though the Department of Energy expects this figure to jump up to 80% by 2050.
Like nearly all other industries, and perhaps more than many other industries, the energy sector has been severely affected by the Covid 19 pandemic. The pandemic, which has infected over 50 million people and cost over 1.3 million lives, saw lockdowns in most countries globally, affecting billons of people. In mid April, when many major countries in the world had enforced full or partial lockdowns, there was an average decrease of 25% in energy demand, and now that a second, potentially more lethal wave has emerged, this decrease in demand may arise once again during winter 2020. In fact, due to the lack of demand and a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, oil futures hit negative prices for the first time in history. Only time will tell how the industry, and even the world, will recover from the pandemic, though there is a glimmer of hope as results of some vaccine trials have been quite encouraging.
The largest energy companies in the world are often also considered to be among the biggest companies in the world regardless, and the industry is also home to the biggest company in the world by far. Perhaps only the technology industry rivals the energy sector when it comes to the biggest companies within. The biggest energy companies have also been boosted by a lot of acquisitions in mergers in the last few decades. In fact, in just the last 33 years, nearly 70,000 such deals have been made in the energy sector, worth nearly $9.6 trillion, which is a truly mind boggling figure to comprehend. The biggest such deal was between Exxon Corp and Mobil Corp, resulting in the creation of Exxon Mobil, and the deal was worth over $78 billion. To find out the biggest companies in the energy sector, we considered their market cap, total assets, total revenue and total profits, giving higher weightage to the first two criteria. You might even find some of these companies in the most profitable companies in the world in 2020. So let’s take a look at some of the companies most likely either directly or indirectly involved in the provision of electricity to your house, starting with number 15:
15. Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX)
Market cap of the company (in billions of dollars): 25.7
Revenue of the company (in billions of dollars): 107.4
Assets of the company (in billions of dollars): 58.7
Profit of the company (in millions of dollars): 3,100
Founded 103 years ago in 1917, Phillips 66 is located in Houston, Texas and is engaged in the production of petrochemicals and natural gas liquids. The company has around 14,000 employees across all of its locations, and maintains a presence in at least 65 countries.
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