First Half Production from Non-OPEC Oil Majors Down Slightly Year-on-Year

8 August 2005

Actual change in production 1H 2004-2005. Click to enlarge.

Combined production of crude oil and liquids by some of the world’s largest non-OPEC oil companies declined 0.2% in the first half of 2005 compared to the same period in 2004.

The 17 companies for which production data is publicly accessible at this point produced a combined 24.6 million barrels per day during the period—approximately 29% of the world’s total.

The largest drops in actual production came from Royal Dutch Shell, ExxonMobil and Chevron, which between the three of them had a decline of 343,000 barrels a day.

Percentage change in production. Click to enlarge.

On a percentage basis, the largest decline came from Statoil (Norway/North Sea producer) with a 7.1% drop, followed by Repsol YPF (Spain) with a 6.2% decline and Royal Dutch Shell with a 6.1% drop.

The highest percentage increase (11.6%) came from Unocal, although in terms of actual quantity, that represented an increase of only 18,000 barrels per day. The second highest percentage gain came from Petrobras (Brazil), with an increase of 10.1%, and the highest actual quantity increase of them all (166,000 barrels per day).

BP saw a heathy increase in production of 3.9%, or 90,000 barrels per day—due, however, to its joint venture with TNK in Russia. Without its share of the BP-TNK venture, BP’s production would have declined 0.6%.