The world's top 12 publicly-traded oil producing companies saw their total net income and revenue decline in the first half of 2019, compared to the same period a year ago, according to data compiled by Anadolu Agency on the firms' financial results.
The U.S.' 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 decline year over year.
These 12 companies saw their total net income fall by 11.5% to around $47 billion in the first half of 2019, from approximately $53.1 billion in the first half of 2018, according to the data.
The oil giants also had their collective revenue fall to $789.4 billion in the first six months of this year -- a 3.5% decrease from $818.1 billion from the same period a year ago.
- Shell posts highest income, revenue
Royal Dutch Shell was the oil firm with the highest net income and revenue in the January-June period of 2019 among the 12 energy giants.
The company had a net income of $9 billion in the first half of this year, followed by Chevron with earnings of $6.9 billion, and Total with an income of $5.9 billion.
Shell posted revenue of $177.5 billion in the first six months of 2019. During that period, BP ranked second with $141.1 billion, while ExxonMobil followed in third place with $132.7 billion.
- Oil prices fall by 6.5%
The majority of the decreases in collective net income and revenue for the oil giants was due to a fall in crude oil prices, which saw a year-over-year decline of 6.5%.
International benchmark Brent crude averaged $70.60 per barrel in the first half of 2018, but lost 6.5% to mark an average of $66 a barrel in the January-June period of 2019, according to the official data.
One of the major reasons behind the price decline was due to the year-over-year increase in global oil production, which contributed to the glut of supply in the oil market worldwide.
Overall oil production in the world averaged 99.5 million barrels per day (bpd) in the first half of 2018, but increased to an average of 100.2 million bpd in the first half of 2019, according to the U.S.' Energy Information Administration data.
Another factor behind the crude price decline is the trade tension between the U.S. and China -- the world's two largest economies and biggest oil consumers.
The rising trade conflict between the two countries dampened the global economic growth outlook and lowered expectations that global oil demand would remain strong this year.
By Ovunc Kutlu
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr