The world's top 12 publicly-traded oil producing companies saw their total income decline by more than 40% in 2019, according to data compiled by Anadolu Agency on these firms' financial results on Saturday.
Apart from Saudi Aramco which has not yet released its full 2019 results, American ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Halliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, British BP, Royal Dutch Shell, French Total S.A., Italy's Eni, Russia's Rosneft and Norway's Equinor saw their collective revenue and net income decrease year-over-year.
These 12 companies saw their total income decline by 40.4% to around $63.9 billion in 2019, down from $107.3 billion in 2018, according to the data.
The oil giants also had their collective revenue fall to $1.29 trillion last year -- an 8.5% decrease from $1.41 trillion during the previous year.
- Shell posts highest income, revenue
Royal Dutch Shell led the 12 oil and gas giants to post the highest net income and revenue last year.
The company posted net income of $15.84 billion in 2019, followed by ExxonMobil with earnings of $14.34 billion, and Total S.A. with income of $11.83 billion.
Shell had revenue of $344.88 billion for the full-year of 2019. While ExxonMobil ranked second with $264.94 billion, Total S.A. followed in third place with $176.25 billion.
-Brent oil falls by around 10%
Much of the decrease in net income and revenue of the oil giants was due to the decline in crude oil prices.
International benchmark Brent crude averaged $64.37 per barrel in 2019 -- a 9.6% loss from 2018 when it averaged $71.19 a barrel, according to the U.S.' Energy Information Administration (EIA).
American benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) decreased 12.3% to average $57.02 per barrel last year, from $65.06 a barrel in 2018, the EIA data showed.
While the rising glut of supply in the global oil market caused annual price losses, it was also the rise in the value of the U.S. dollar, of which oil prices are indexed to, that caused a slump in overall oil demand around the world.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr