Russian state-run energy giant Gazprom was ranked among the fastest-growing oil and gas producers during the last five years, among with PetroChina and U.S.-based EQT Corp., a new analysis from Rystad Energy reveals, according to Kallanish Energy.
The companies that grew their oil and gas volumes the most in recent years include a mix of Russian and Chinese players, Big Oil majors and North American shale producers.
EQT, for instance, is an unexpected inclusion in the top three, but the firm rapidly grew into the nation’s top independent natural gas producer when it acquired rival Rice Energy for $6.7 billion. Curiously, it maybe grew too quickly to the point that the old Rice management team successfully waged a proxy war and took over the company in recent weeks.
Russia’s Gazprom is the clear global growth leader though as the only company to add 1 million barrels of oil equivalent per year during the past five years, primarily from natural gas.
Rounding out the top five are Big Oil majors BP and Royal Dutch Shell.
“Behind the state behemoths in Russia and China, majors and shale companies are some of the fastest-growing companies over the last five years,” said Espen Erlingsen, head of upstream research at Rystad Energy, an independent business intelligence company.
Rystad said it expects this rise in output among the majors and shale companies to continue.
Then comes a mix of companies for the back half of the top 10: Denver-based Antero Resources, the French energy major Total, Big Oil major Chevron, Canadian Natural Resources and Russia’s Lukoil.
The rest of the top 15 are Spain’s Repsol, Italy’s Eni, Houston-based EOG Resources, the privately owned gas producer Ascent Resources of Oklahoma, and Fort Worth-based Range Resources.
