Oil & Gas Industry by Company
The industry that still supplies most of the world's energy, tracked across its five segments: integrated majors, exploration and production, refining, midstream, and oilfield services. The investment story is capital discipline: after a decade of overspending, the industry now returns cash instead of chasing growth, while AI datacenter power demand has pulled natural gas back into the growth conversation.
The Oil & Gas sector on Sterling tracks 41 companies, led by ExxonMobil (12.8%), Shell (10.6%), BP (7.5%) by market share.
Oil & Gas market share by company (FY2025)
| # | Company | Market share |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ExxonMobilXOM FY2025 revenue $323.9B | 12.8% |
| 2 | ShellSHEL FY2025 revenue $266.9B | 10.6% |
| 3 | BPBP FY2025 revenue $189.3B | 7.5% |
| 4 | ChevronCVX FY2025 revenue $184.4B | 7.3% |
| 5 | FY2025 revenue $182.3B | 7.2% |
| 6 | FY2025 revenue $132.7B | 5.2% |
| 7 | Phillips 66PSX FY2025 revenue $132.2B | 5.2% |
| 8 | ValeroVLO FY2025 revenue $122.7B | 4.9% |
| 9 | EquinorEQNR FY2025 revenue $106.2B | 4.2% |
| 10 | PetrobrasPBR FY2025 revenue $88.1B | 3.5% |
| 11 | FY2025 revenue $82.6B | 3.3% |
| 12 | EniE FY2025 revenue $82.2B | 3.2% |
Oil and Gas at a Glance
- •The 40 tracked companies generated roughly $2.5 trillion of revenue in FY2025, led by ExxonMobil at $323.9B. Share of tracked revenue is a universe metric, not global market share: national oil companies like Saudi Aramco sit outside it.
- •Capital discipline has replaced growth: US drilling activity remains far below its 2014 peak even at healthy prices, with free cash flow going to dividends and buybacks instead of rigs.
- •Natural gas carries the growth story. The US is the world's largest LNG exporter with a second wave of Gulf Coast terminals under construction, and AI datacenter power demand has made gas-fired electricity the sector's newest demand driver.
- •Consolidation has remade US shale: ExxonMobil-Pioneer, Chevron-Hess, ConocoPhillips-Marathon Oil, Diamondback-Endeavor, and the Chesapeake-Southwestern merger (now Expand Energy) all closed within roughly two years.
- •Segment economics diverge sharply: FY2025 operating margins ran roughly 17-35% in E&P, 11-37% in fee-based midstream, and 3-4% at the refiners, all inside the same sector label.
Five Businesses, One Label
Oil and gas is five businesses with different clocks, customers, and margin structures. FY2025 operating-margin ranges are min-to-max from the tracked public companies in each segment.
Upstream (E&P)
- What it earns
- The barrel and the molecule, at the commodity price minus finding and lifting cost.
- Cycle clock
- Almost mechanical with crude and Henry Hub.
- FY2025 op. margin range
- 17% to 35%
- Tracked names
- COP, EOG, OXY, CNQ, FANG, DVN, APA, AR, EQT, EXE, PR, MTDR
Integrated majors
- What it earns
- Upstream plus refining, chemicals, and often LNG and trading, which smooths the cycle.
- Cycle clock
- Smoothed version of the commodity clock.
- FY2025 op. margin range
- 5% to 32%
- Tracked names
- XOM, CVX, SHEL, BP, TTE, E, EQNR, PBR, SU, IMO
Refining
- What it earns
- The crack spread: product prices minus crude, minus operating cost.
- Cycle clock
- Can invert the upstream cycle. Shortage of products is a good year even if crude is soft.
- FY2025 op. margin range
- -0.2% to 4%
- Tracked names
- PSX, MPC, VLO, DINO, PBF
Midstream
- What it earns
- Fees for moving, storing, fractionating, and (for Cheniere) liquefying hydrocarbons.
- Cycle clock
- Mostly ignores the commodity. Volume and contract mix matter more than WTI.
- FY2025 op. margin range
- 11% to 37%
- Tracked names
- KMI, WMB, LNG, ET, EPD, OKE, TRGP
Oilfield services
- What it earns
- Rigs, crews, equipment, and (for Baker Hughes IET) LNG turbines sold into everyone else's capex.
- Cycle clock
- Lags drilling budgets by quarters. Levered to activity, not to the price itself.
- FY2025 op. margin range
- 6% to 15%
- Tracked names
- SLB, HAL, BKR, NOV, FTI, WFRD
| Business | What it earns | Cycle clock | FY2025 op. margin range | Tracked names |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Upstream (E&P) | The barrel and the molecule, at the commodity price minus finding and lifting cost. | Almost mechanical with crude and Henry Hub. | 17% to 35% | COP, EOG, OXY, CNQ, FANG, DVN, APA, AR, EQT, EXE, PR, MTDR |
| Integrated majors | Upstream plus refining, chemicals, and often LNG and trading, which smooths the cycle. | Smoothed version of the commodity clock. | 5% to 32% | XOM, CVX, SHEL, BP, TTE, E, EQNR, PBR, SU, IMO |
| Refining | The crack spread: product prices minus crude, minus operating cost. | Can invert the upstream cycle. Shortage of products is a good year even if crude is soft. | -0.2% to 4% | PSX, MPC, VLO, DINO, PBF |
| Midstream | Fees for moving, storing, fractionating, and (for Cheniere) liquefying hydrocarbons. | Mostly ignores the commodity. Volume and contract mix matter more than WTI. | 11% to 37% | KMI, WMB, LNG, ET, EPD, OKE, TRGP |
| Oilfield services | Rigs, crews, equipment, and (for Baker Hughes IET) LNG turbines sold into everyone else's capex. | Lags drilling budgets by quarters. Levered to activity, not to the price itself. | 6% to 15% | SLB, HAL, BKR, NOV, FTI, WFRD |
Crude and Natural Gas Benchmarks
The two crude benchmarks and US natural gas, monthly since 2005. Every other chart in this sector is downstream of these three lines: they set upstream earnings, they set refining input costs, and with a lag they set drilling budgets.
US Field Production of Crude Oil
Monthly US crude production from EIA, million barrels per day, through July 2026. This is crude only, not NGLs, and it is the physical series the industrial-production index only tracks in direction.
US Crude Production, Annual Average
Annual average of the monthly EIA crude series, 2015 through 2025. 2026 is omitted because the monthly file only runs through July.
US Crude Production, Product Demand, and Crude Exports
Three EIA monthly series on one chart. Product supplied is a refined-product demand proxy, not crude demand. The gap between crude production and product supplied is closed by NGLs, imports, stock change, and product trade, so the two lines are not a closed mass balance.
Tracked Universe Revenue by Segment
Sum of FY2025 reported revenue for the 40 tracked public companies. This is a universe mix, not global market share: national oil companies without a meaningful public float are excluded. Integrated revenue double-counts hydrocarbons that a major both produces and refines.
Margins Across the Whole Sector
Operating margin for every tracked company, ranked. The spread is the reason this sector is split into five tabs: fee-based midstream and low-cost integrated producers sit far above the refiners, who run single-digit margins on enormous revenue.
US Extraction Output and Drilling Activity
Industrial production indices for oil and gas extraction and for drilling wells. The divergence is the story of the shale era: output has held up while drilling activity sits far below its 2014 peak, because capital went to shareholders instead of rigs and the wells got more productive.
Sector Milestones
Dated events that change how the five businesses earn money: the 2014 shale crash, negative WTI, the US LNG ramp, the crude-export repeal, post-2020 consolidation, and the 2026 IEA balance under a Hormuz-closure assumption.
- Nov 2014
OPEC defends share, shale crash begins
US tight-oil growth meets an OPEC decision not to cut. WTI's 2014-2016 collapse is the first shale capital-destruction cycle.
- Dec 2015
US crude export ban repealed
Light tight oil can leave the Gulf Coast. The crude-export line on this page starts its real life here.
- Feb 2016
First Cheniere Sabine Pass cargoes
The US LNG export series leaves zero. The midstream growth engine of the next decade is a set of trains, not a set of crude pipes.
- Apr 2020
WTI prints negative
Storage at Cushing fills. The industry rewrites the objective function from production growth to free cash flow.
- Feb 2022
Russia invades Ukraine
Diesel leaves the Atlantic basin. The 3-2-1 crack on the Refining tab spikes for a reason that has nothing to do with US crude production.
- Oct 2023
ExxonMobil agrees to buy Pioneer
Start of the two-year US shale consolidation wave (Pioneer, Hess, Marathon Oil, Endeavor, Chesapeake-Southwestern).
- Jun 2024
EIA retires the Drilling Productivity Report
Basin production and DUC series move into STEO tables 10a and 10b, which is what the Upstream tab now plots.
- Jul 2025
Chevron completes its Hess acquisition
Chevron announced completion on 18 July 2025 (Chevron 8-K). Guyana barrels concentrate into fewer, better-capitalized operators. Production step-ups in 2025 10-Ks are acquisitions.
- Feb 2026
Middle East war begins
EIA says 26 February 2026 was two days before the start of the war, and Brent front-month futures did not trade as low as $72 again until 1 July. Our monthly Brent average jumps from $70.89 in February to $103.13 in March. Source: EIA Today in Energy, 5 Oct 2026.
- Mar 2026
Hormuz disruption cuts off 20% of global LNG supplies
EIA: disruptions to LNG shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in March cut off 20% of global LNG supplies, mostly from Qatar, and US LNG shipments to Asia doubled in the first half of 2026 against the first half of 2025. Source: EIA Today in Energy, 1 Sep 2026.
- May 2026
Devon completes its Coterra merger
Devon closed its all-stock merger with Coterra on 7 May 2026 at 0.70 Devon share per Coterra share, a combined enterprise value of about $58 billion at the 30 January 2026 closing prices (agreement dated 1 February). Coterra's quote in our price series freezes on that date. Source: Devon Energy 8-K, 7 May 2026.
- Jul 2026
Baker Hughes completes its Chart Industries acquisition
Baker Hughes closed the $210-per-share cash purchase of Chart Industries on 16 July 2026, an enterprise value of $13.6 billion at the July 2025 signing. It adds Chart's gas and liquid handling equipment to Baker Hughes' Industrial and Energy Technology segment. Source: Baker Hughes 8-K, 16 July 2026.
- Aug 2026
IEA sees 2026 world oil demand falling 1.6 mb/d
August 2026 Oil Market Report (published 12 August), 510 kb/d deeper than its July estimate, under a Strait of Hormuz closure assumption. Modeled world balance, not a US tank gauge.
- Aug 2026
Corpus Christi Stage 3 completes
Cheniere took custody of the seventh and last Stage 3 train on 28 August 2026, making Corpus Christi the second-largest US LNG terminal at 3.1 Bcf/d nominal (3.9 peak), behind Sabine Pass at 3.6 (4.6 peak). Golden Pass began exporting in April 2026. Source: EIA Today in Energy, 15 Sep 2026.
- Sep 2026
Brent futures peak at $109 a barrel
After strikes resumed on 7 July, Brent front-month futures passed $100 on 23 July and again on 9 September, peaking at $109 on 15 September; spot reached as high as $132. Daily futures and spot highs sit on this timeline only, not in the monthly-average price series. Source: EIA Today in Energy, 5 Oct 2026.
- Oct 2026
Hurricane Isaias shuts in Gulf output before landfall
EIA: as of 8 October 2026 the Marine Minerals Administration reported 130 production platforms and rigs evacuated or moved, shutting in about 1.3 million barrels per day of crude oil. Isaias was the first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic season. This is a pre-landfall point-in-time tally, not the post-storm total, and EIA's printed natural gas shut-in figure is garbled so it is not repeated. Source: EIA Today in Energy, 9 Oct 2026.
IEA Oil Market Report, August 2026
Selected IEA figures. These are modeled oil balances, not metered barrels, and the August 2026 report embeds the agency's assumption of an ongoing Strait of Hormuz closure. They are not OPEC self-reported production. Use them as a demand snapshot, not as a substitute for the EIA US series above.
World oil demand, year-on-year change
- IEA figure
- -1.6 mb/d
- Window
- 2026
- Note
- 510 kb/d weaker than the July report. Hormuz closure and elevated fuel prices are the stated drivers.
World oil demand, year-on-year change
- IEA figure
- -4.9 mb/d
- Window
- 2Q 2026
- Note
- Deepest quarterly contraction in the 2026 path.
World oil demand, year-on-year change
- IEA figure
- -2.8 mb/d
- Window
- 3Q 2026
- Note
- Contraction eases from 2Q.
World oil demand, year-on-year change
- IEA figure
- Returns to growth
- Window
- 4Q 2026
- Note
- IEA: growth of 580 kb/d in 4Q26 in the August report.
World oil demand, year-on-year change
- IEA figure
- +2.4 mb/d
- Window
- 2027
- Note
- Rebound year in the same report.
World oil supply, year-on-year change
- IEA figure
- -4.3 mb/d
- Window
- 2026
- Note
- August report. July-August hostilities cut the 3Q26 supply path by 1.7 mb/d versus July.
World oil supply
- IEA figure
- 110.3 mb/d after +8.3 mb/d rebound
- Window
- 2027
- Note
- IEA projection, not a history series.
| Item | IEA figure | Window | Note |
|---|---|---|---|
| World oil demand, year-on-year change | -1.6 mb/d | 2026 | 510 kb/d weaker than the July report. Hormuz closure and elevated fuel prices are the stated drivers. |
| World oil demand, year-on-year change | -4.9 mb/d | 2Q 2026 | Deepest quarterly contraction in the 2026 path. |
| World oil demand, year-on-year change | -2.8 mb/d | 3Q 2026 | Contraction eases from 2Q. |
| World oil demand, year-on-year change | Returns to growth | 4Q 2026 | IEA: growth of 580 kb/d in 4Q26 in the August report. |
| World oil demand, year-on-year change | +2.4 mb/d | 2027 | Rebound year in the same report. |
| World oil supply, year-on-year change | -4.3 mb/d | 2026 | August report. July-August hostilities cut the 3Q26 supply path by 1.7 mb/d versus July. |
| World oil supply | 110.3 mb/d after +8.3 mb/d rebound | 2027 | IEA projection, not a history series. |
Companies in the Oil & Gas sector (41)
- ExxonMobil
- Chevron
- Shell
- BP
- TotalEnergies
- Eni
- Equinor
- Petrobras
- Suncor
- Imperial Oil
- ConocoPhillips
- EOG Resources
- Occidental
- Canadian Natural
- Diamondback
- Devon Energy
- APA Corporation
- Antero Resources
- EQT Corporation
- Expand Energy
- Permian Resources
- Matador Resources
- Phillips 66
- Marathon Petroleum
- Valero
- HF Sinclair
- PBF Energy
- Kinder Morgan
- Williams
- Cheniere
- Energy Transfer
- Enterprise Products
- ONEOK
- Targa Resources
- SLB
- Halliburton
- Baker Hughes
- NOV
- TechnipFMC
- Weatherford
- Texas Pacific Land Corporation
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Frequently asked questions
What is the Oil & Gas sector?
The industry that still supplies most of the world's energy, tracked across its five segments: integrated majors, exploration and production, refining, midstream, and oilfield services. The investment story is capital discipline: after a decade of overspending, the industry now returns cash instead of chasing growth, while AI datacenter power demand has pulled natural gas back into the growth conversation.
Which companies lead the Oil & Gas sector?
Sterling tracks 41 companies in Oil & Gas, led by ExxonMobil (13%), Shell (11%), BP (8%), Chevron (7%), TotalEnergies (7%) and Marathon Petroleum (5%).
How can I invest in the Oil & Gas sector?
Publicly traded names in Oil & Gas include ExxonMobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), Shell (SHEL), BP (BP) and TotalEnergies (TTE). Compare them side by side on Sterling. Data last updated November 3, 2026.