Top Five Oil Firms Saw Revenues Fall 31% In 2020

　　The five largest oil and gas companies in the world saw their combined revenues drop by 30 percent last year, although they still generated more than $1 trillion in total revenues, according to data compiled by Finbold.

　　The collapse of the oil prices and demand last year was the biggest drag on those companies’ sales, as well as on the revenues of all other oil and gas firms.

　　The oil price and demand collapse last year hit all oil companies’ revenues and earnings, as both the upstream and downstream divisions suffered from the pandemic-driven crisis. Some, like ExxonMobil, for example, posted historic losses as they also wrote down the value of their resources.

　　Earlier this year, data compiled by Anadolu Agency showed that the biggest oil companies in the world, including Big Oil, Saudi Aramco, Russia’s top oil producers, and the top oilfield services providers, saw their combined revenues fall by 35.4 percent to US$1.3 trillion in 2020 from US$2.02 trillion in 2019.

　　The agency analyzed the financial statements of the 14 biggest firms—ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Halliburton, Schlumberger, Baker Hughes, Shell, BP, Total, Eni, Equinor, Lukoil, Rosneft, and Saudi Aramco.

　　Shell’s revenues dropped the most—by 48 percent—while BP, Aramco, and Exxon all saw their respective revenues fall by more than 30 percent in 2020 compared to 2019, according to the data pulled by the Anadolu Agency.

　　This year, higher oil prices during the first quarter helped many companies to boost profits, and some, like Shell raised dividends, while others like BP resumed share buybacks this quarter after more than tripling first-quarter earnings.