RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s energy giant Aramco has topped a list of the world’s largest oil companies in terms of proven reserves, boasting figures 15 times greater than its nearest competitor, according to newly calculated figures.
Statista, a German online platform for data gathering and visualization, reported that Saudi Aramco’s oil and gas reserves were estimated at around 259 billion barrels of oil equivalent for 2022.
These reserves surpasses the combined total of ExxonMobil Corp., Chevron Corp., TotalEnergies SE, Shell plc, BP, and Eni.
ExxonMobil Corp. recorded reserves of 17.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent, followed by Chevron Corp. with 11.2 billion barrels.
The size of Aramco’s reserves echo its revenue streams, with the state-run oil giant the world’s most profitable company, generating $716.2 billion in profits between 2016 and 2023, based on the company's annual financial results.
It also produced 12.8 million barrels of oil a day on average in 2023.
Statista highlighted that Saudi Aramco’s reserves figures are based on the terms of its concession, which limits its exploration and development ability to certain areas.
On a separate note, Statista reported that the Kingdom’s oil reserves amounted to 40.9 billion tonnes in 2020.
“Saudi Arabia has one of the largest oil reserves in the world, accounting for about one-fifth of the world’s conventional oil sources,” the data platform stated.
Moreover, according to a US Energy Information Administration study, the proven international oil and natural gas reserves of 187 publicly traded exploration and production companies decreased by 5.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent in 2022. This represents a 2 percent decline based on the firm’s annual financial reports.
The analysis, which was released in July 2023, stated that the proven reserves held by these public companies declined by 9 percent in 2020, primarily due to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, but reserves increased in 2021.
In 2022, some major oil companies, including TotalEnergies and BP, withdrew from Russia. These divestments reduced the total proven reserves reported by exploration and production companies by 12 billion barrels of oil equivalent that year.
On June 2, 2024, Aramco begun the sale of more than $10 billion worth of shares in what was the second public offering from the firm.
The final price for the secondary share sale was set at SR27.25 ($7.26), and the company’s allocation to international investors reached 0.73 percent of total shares following the completion of the new issue.
