The S&P Global Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings this year saw the entry of Indian Oil to the top 10 along with Reliance Industries, which was part of the toppers' club even last year.
Even though total fourteen Indian energy companies made it to the S&P list, it was one short of the tally held in 2016, said S&P Global Platts in its review today. Overall, as many as ten energy companies significantly moved up in their rankings this year, it said.
Among the top ten ranked Asian energy companies are Indian Oil Corp, Oil & Natural Gas Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp. Refiners too continued to strengthen their standings in the 2017 roster, buoyed by improved margins.
Revenues of the top ten global energy companies surged more than 30 percent to $1.1 trillion from $830.2 billion in the 2016 rankings. Collectively, the world's top 10 companies posted combined profits of $63.7 billion last year, 14 percent lower than the $74.3 billion posted the year before. The Top 250 profit figures are adjusted for preferred dividends and exclude discontinued operations and extraordinary operations.
The two dozen biggest movers included a range of companies from EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa) and the Americas, said the review. The group was heavy with diversified utilities -- which provide electricity and natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial users - and pipeline companies that carry oil and gas to market. Not surprisingly, both sectors rely on each other for supply and demand. Among the biggest losers in the rankings, by sector, were South American exploration companies and Chinese power providers, it said.
"Commodity price volatility, geopolitical shifts and industry consolidation made investors seek out safe havens in 2016 in the form of strong returns on invested capital, long-term fixed fees, regulatory stability, and access to regional and world markets," Harry Weber, senior natural gas writer of S&P Global Platts, the leading independent provider of information and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy markets was quoted in the release as saying. "That helps explain why utilities and pipelines were able to differentiate themselves from other sectors, even as some operators struggled to boost revenue and underwent major transformations that included operational and management changes."
The bigger story this year is India's Reliance Industries rising to third position from eighth position last year and France's Total rising to tenth position from twelfth position last year along with Indian Oil Corp that showed the strength of pipelines, said S&P Global Platts.
However, notable absentees in the top spots this year include US refiners Phillips 66, which fell to number 20 from fourth position and Marathon Petroleum, which slipped to number 34 from tenth position, and Russian oil major PJSC Rosneft, which slid to number 22 from seventh position. Some US refiners' margins were battered in 2016 because of an oversupply of gasoline and diesel, while some oil majors were negatively affected by the continuation of cheap crude prices. Among the Indian companies in the Top 250 last year, Adani Power Ltd, did not make it to the list this year.
Coal's troubles were especially acute in Asia, with China's production falling by 7.9 percent or 140 million tonne of oil-equivalent (mtoe), a record decline, the review found. Those headwinds translated into swings in this year's Platts rankings for coal interests. Coal India, for instance, slipped in the rankings to No. 45 from No. 38 last year. On the other hand, China Shenhua Energy rose to number 13 from number 25 last year as the price of coal there rose sharply following government output cuts.