The Original SEVEN SISTERS
Before there was OPEC, there were the SEVEN SISTERS.
The Seven Sisters, a consortium of seven world’s largest multi-national oil companies, was formed in the 1950s.
Here are the original members of the Seven Sisters:
- Anglo-Persian Oil Company (now BP)
- Royal Dutch Shell
- Gulf Oil (Acquired by Chevron in 1985)
- Standard Oil of California (now Chevron)
- Standard Oil of New Jersey (now ExxonMobil)
- Standard Oil of New York – Socony (later became Mobil Oil and then ExxonMobil)
- Texaco (Acquired by Chevron in 2001)
Although the term “The Seven Sisters” was used for the first time in 1951, these seven companies had been dominating the oil industry since the 1940s. The Seven Sisters were so powerful that at one time, they controlled about 85% of the global oil and gas reserves.
Due to company mergers and acquisitions that took place in the oil industry in the last 40 years, the composition of the seven largest oil companies in the world had changed significantly.
The original Seven Sisters consisted of two European and five American oil companies whereas currently, the seven largest international oil companies in the world consist of four European and three American companies.
The New Seven Sisters
Due to mergers and acquisitions, several of the original members of the Seven Sisters no longer existed.
For examples, Gulf Oil, Texaco and Standard Oil of California have merged to be known as Chevron, and Standard Oil of New Jersey and Standard Oil of New York merged to become ExxonMobil.
With the mergers and acquisitions the composition of the seven largest international oil companies therefore have changed.
Here are the new seven largest international oil companies in the world which are now commonly referred to as the seven SUPERMAJORS or the new Seven Sisters.
BP (British Petroleum)
British Petroleum is a British oil company that started as Anglo-Persian Oil Company in 1908 as a subsidiary of Burmah Oil Company. BP grew bigger and bigger by acquiring SOHIO (Standard Oil of Ohio) in 1978, then Amoco in 1998 and ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Company) in 2000.
BP operates in 79 countries with 70,000 employees. The London-based company produces 3.8 million BOEPD of oil and gas.
CHEVRON
Chevron began as Standard Oil of California as one of the successors of the original Standard Oil company, the company founded by Mr. John D. Rockefeller after it was broken up into several companies in 1911 under the Sherman Antitrust Act in the US.
Chevron became a huge oil company after acquiring Gulf Oil in 1985, then Texaco in 2001, and Unocal Corporation in 2005.
In October 2020, Chevron acquired Noble Energy in an all-stock deal worth $5 billion. The acquisition of Noble Energy makes Chevron the No. 2 U.S. shale oil producer behind EOG Resources Inc. and gave it nearly 1 Bcf of international natural gas reserves close to growing markets.
Then in October 2023, Chevron acquired Hess Corporation in an all-stock transaction valued at $53 billion. The acquisition of Hess upgraded and diversified Chevron’s already advantaged portfolio. Hess’s Bakken assets significantly increased Chevron’s shale position in the US.
With headquarters in San Ramon, California, Chevron operates in 180 countries and employs more than 48,000 people. Its total daily oil and natural gas liquids production is 1,715,000 barrels in 2022.
EXXONMOBIL
ExxonMobil that began as Standard Oil of New Jersey is also another descendant of the original Standard Oil company. Standard Oil of New Jersey changed its name to Exxon in 1972, and later on, Exxon became ExxonMobil after it merged with Mobil Oil in 1999.
Exxon Mobil acquired Pioneer Natural Resources for $59.5 billion on October 5, 2023. The Pioneer deal is Exxon’s largest acquisition since it bought Mobil in 1999.
With the acquisition of Pioneer, a major oil and gas producer in the Permian basin, ExxonMobil’s Permian production volume would double to 1.3 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (MOEBD), based on 2023 volumes, and is expected to increase to approximately 2 MOEBD in 2027.
Operating in 58 countries, ExxonMobil has about 71,000 employees. It produced 2.4 million barrels of crude oil and natural gas liquids and 8.3 billion SCF of gas per day in 2022. The company is based in Irving, Texas.
ROYAL DUTCH SHELL
The formation of the Royal Dutch Shell group came from the merger of Royal Dutch Petroleum Company of the Netherlands and Shell Transport and Trading Company Limited of the United Kingdom in 1907. The Anglo-Dutch company was formed to compete against the powerful American oil company – The Standard Oil.
The Royal Dutch Petroleum Company, known as Koninklijke Nederlandse Petroleum Maatschappij in Dutch, had its root in Indonesia when it was formed in 1890 to produce the oil it discovered in Pangkalan Brandan in North Sumatera and later on in Balikpapan in East Kalimantan.
Royal Dutch Shell became a big player in LNG when it acquired BG Group in 2016.
From its headquarters in the Netherland, Shell operates in 70 countries and has 81,000 employees. The company’s daily oil and gas production is about 3.7 BOE.
TotalEnergies
Total, a French supermajor oil company, started in 1924 as Compagnie Française des Pétroles ( CFP). It later changed its name to Total CFP in 1985, then to Total in 1991 and finally TotalEnergies.
The company grew even bigger after it acquired the Petrofina of Belgium in 1999 and then ELF Aquitaine in 2000.
Based in France, TotalEnergies has operations in 130 countries and it employs more than 100,000 employees. It produces 3 million BOEPD of oil and gas.
ConocoPhillips
ConocoPhillips started as Conoco 1875 in the US. Conoco merged with Phillips Petroleum Company to form ConocoPhillips in 2002.
Based in Houston, ConocoPhillips involving only in the upstream part of the oil industry is the world’s largest independent oil company. With about 10,400 employees, its daily oil and gas production in 17 countries is around 1.3 million BOE.
ENI (Ente Nazionale Indrocarburi)
ENI, a supermajor oil company from Italy was formed in 1953, and then it acquired AGIP, another Italian oil company, in 2003.
From its headquarters in Rome, ENI operates in 79 countries. The company employs more than 30 thousand employees, and it produces a combined 1.7 million BOE of oil and gas daily.
Company Profits in 2022
Here are the 2022 profits of the new Seven Sisters of oil.
ExxonMobil – $59.1 billion
Shell – $39.9 billion
Chevron – $36.5 billion
TotalEnergies – $36.2 billion
BP – $27.7 billion
ConocoPhillips – $18.7 billion
ENI – $14.6 billion
The year 2022 has been amazing for the new seven sisters. With their combined total profit of $232.7 billion, 2022 is an earning record year for many of them. Most of them doubled their profits in 2022 from the previous year.
Top Oil Producing Countries in 2021
The average daily total global oil production in 2021 is around 77 million barrels, 71% of which came from ten largest oil producing countries.
Here are the ten biggest oil producing countries in the world. The term BOPD refers to the number of barrels of petroleum liquid per day.
1. United States – 18.9 million BOPD
2. Saudi Arabia – 10.8 million BOPD
3. Russia – 10.8 million BOPD
4. Canada – 5.6 million BOPD
5. China – 5.0 million BOPD
6. Iraq – 4.1 million BOPD
7. United Arab Emirates – 3.8 million BOPD
8. Brazil – 3.7 million BOPD
9. Iran – 3.5 million BOPD
10. Kuwait – 2.7 million BOPD
WRITTEN BY
Jamin Djuang – Chief Learning Officer of LDI Training and author of The Story of Oil and Gas: How Oil and Gas Are Explored, Drilled and Produced
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