A Profile of Russia's Seven Largest Oil Companies
To understand why Russia is called an oil and gas powerhouse, let us look at some figures. Taking 2018 as an example, the country produced about 556 million tonnes of crude oil (including condensate) and exported 258 million tonnes, with 54 producing oilfields; on the gas side, annual output was 725.4 billion cubic metres with 248 billion cubic metres exported, and 977 km of new gas pipelines were built. Its crude oil and natural gas output both rank second in the world.
A saying circulates in Russian engineering circles: there are seven giants in the oil and gas sector, and any contractor that has successfully delivered a project for one of them can disband its marketing department (meaning other clients will come knocking on the door).
The seven companies are: Rosneft(abbreviated as Rosneft), Gazprom(Gazprom), Lukoil(LUKOIL), SIBUR(SIBUR), Novatek(Novatek), Transneft and Tatneft (Tatneft). Each of them is a major player - let Dr. Oil walk you through them.
1. Rosneft
It is Russia's largest oil company, established on 29 September 1995 as an open joint-stock company founded by the Russian federal government. On 22 October 2012, Russian state oil major Rosneft announced that it had reached agreements with BP and the Russian private consortium AAR to buy 50% stakes in TNK-BP, Russia's third-largest oil company, from its two major shareholders. The total acquisition was about USD 55 billion. After the deal, Rosneft's oil and gas output surpassed that of ExxonMobil, making it the world's largest listed oil company. On 19 July 2018, when the Fortune Global 500 list was released, Rosneft ranked 115th.
2. Gazprom
Gazprom is headquartered in Moscow and controlled by the Federal Agency for State Property Management. It supplies almost all the natural gas required by Central Europe, Eastern Europe and the former CIS countries and is the world's largest gas producer. In the 2018 Fortune Global 500, Gazprom's total profit was USD 38.0862 billion, ranking 3rd in the world; its profit margin of 24.81% ranked 9th; and revenue of USD 153.53 billion ranked 21st. In the 2018 Fortune Global 500 list, Gazprom ranked 49th.
3. Lukoil
Lukoil is one of the world's largest vertically integrated oil and gas companies. Its main business is the exploration and development of oil and gas and the production and sale of petroleum and petrochemical products. Its main exploration and production operations are in Russia, with Western Siberia as its core oil and gas base. Products are sold mainly internationally; Lukoil's petroleum product markets are Russia, Eastern Europe, the CIS countries and the United States.
4. SIBUR
SIBUR is a unique vertically integrated oil and gas chemical group in Russia, owning and managing the country's largest gas processing operations. The group has 26 production sites in different regions of Russia and supplies more than 1,500 large downstream enterprises with products for the fuel and energy complex, the automotive industry, construction materials, household goods, chemicals and other sectors; 43% of SIBUR's products are exported to 80 countries.
5. Novatek
Novatek is Russia's largest independent natural gas producer, mainly engaged in the exploration, production, processing and sale of natural gas and liquid hydrocarbons, with 20 years of experience in the Russian oil and gas industry. Its main operating area is the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (YNAO) in Western Siberia. YNAO is Russia's most famous gas-producing region, accounting for 90% of Russian gas output and about 17% of global gas production.
6. Transneft
Transneft manages the main oil pipeline system across Russia. Its pipelines (including product pipelines) total more than 7.2×10⁴ km, with over 500 pumping stations and a total tank farm capacity of 2,400×10⁴ m³.
7. Tatneft
Tatneft (Russian: OAO Tatneft) is Russia's fifth-largest oil company and is regarded as the country's most efficient enterprise. Tatneft is headquartered in Almetyevsk, Republic of Tatarstan. The Republic of Tatarstan holds 36% of Tatneft's ordinary shares - its "golden share" - while its largest shareholder, Svyazinvest neftekhim, holds 30.44%. In the 2019 Forbes ranking, Tatneft ranked fifth in Russia with revenue of RUB 910.5 billion (nearly 100 billion RMB). Tatneft operates in Tatarstan, Samara, Orenburg and Ulyanovsk regions, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug and Kalmykia. The company accounts for about 8% of Russian oil production and more than 80% of Tatarstan's. In December 2018 Tatneft produced 2.7 million tonnes of oil, and 29.5 million tonnes for the year, 594,000 tonnes more than in 2017. The company holds licences for 7 oil and gas fields; as of 31 December 2016, Tatneft's proved reserves of oil and condensate stood at 6.214 billion barrels, with total proved natural gas reserves of 1.624 trillion cubic metres. Romashkinskoye is its most important field and one of the largest in the world. Tatneft currently ranks fifth among Russia's ten largest oil and gas companies in output and 32nd among the world's leading oil and gas companies. Its subsidiary Taneco operates a refinery in Nizhnekamsk with a turnover of USD 15 billion. Founded in 2005, it was the first petrochemical plant established in Tatarstan after the break-up of the Soviet Union, and its business covers oil and petrochemical production within the republic. As Tatarstan's economy has grown, Taneco's output has continued to increase, and the Tatneft group has now become Russia's largest refining enterprise. In 2018 it processed 9,315,350 tonnes of crude oil, produced 8,609,400 tonnes of refined products and 9,223,040 tonnes of petroleum products in total.
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This article is reproduced from Zhihu - Dr. Oil; the copyright belongs to the original author.
