The Business Times

Reshaping the playing field

International oil companies will have to balances mutual interests if they are to remain relevant in an industry dominated by the national oil companies.

By Jorge Leis and John McCreery

Published on July 23, 2013
min read


This article originally appeared in The Singapore Business Times. As the balance of power in the oil industry shifts from large international oil companies (IOCs) to national oil companies (NOCs), business models for players throughout the industry are shifting in response. Only a few years ago, the state-owned ventures - companies like Saudi Aramco, China National Petroleum Company, Mexico's Pemex, Brazil's Petrobras, Malaysia's Petronas and Rosneft in Russia - depended on the expertise of large private companies, mostly based in the United States and Western Europe, to help them with everything from exploration through drilling, production, refining and marketing. But as NOCs have taken more control over their resources, they have also become more comfortable sourcing their own talent and developing their own fields. In some cases, they now receive more favourable capital terms on the world's markets and are even investing more in R&D than the large international oil companies - US$5.3 billion by the top five NOCs in 2011 compared to US$4.4 billion by the supermajors. Read the full article here.

This article originally appeared in The Singapore Business Times.

As the balance of power in the oil industry shifts from large international oil companies (IOCs) to national oil companies (NOCs), business models for players throughout the industry are shifting in response.

Only a few years ago, the state-owned ventures - companies like Saudi Aramco, China National Petroleum Company, Mexico's Pemex, Brazil's Petrobras, Malaysia's Petronas and Rosneft in Russia - depended on the expertise of large private companies, mostly based in the United States and Western Europe, to help them with everything from exploration through drilling, production, refining and marketing.

But as NOCs have taken more control over their resources, they have also become more comfortable sourcing their own talent and developing their own fields.

In some cases, they now receive more favourable capital terms on the world's markets and are even investing more in R&D than the large international oil companies - US$5.3 billion by the top five NOCs in 2011 compared to US$4.4 billion by the supermajors.

Read the full article here.