Oil & Gas

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.

Data updated 2026-08-30
Oil & Gas

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)

#CompanyMarket 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
TotalEnergiesTTE

FY2025 revenue $182.3B

7.2%
6
Marathon PetroleumMPC

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
Energy TransferET

FY2025 revenue $82.6B

3.3%
12
EniE

FY2025 revenue $82.2B

3.2%

Oil and Gas at a Glance

Structural signals shaping the hydrocarbon economy.
  • •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.
BusinessWhat it earnsCycle clockFY2025 op. margin rangeTracked 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 majorsUpstream 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
RefiningThe 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
MidstreamFees 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 servicesRigs, 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 May 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 May.

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.
  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. Apr 2020

    WTI prints negative

    Storage at Cushing fills. The industry rewrites the objective function from production growth to free cash flow.

  5. Mar 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.

  6. Oct 2023

    ExxonMobil agrees to buy Pioneer

    Start of the two-year US shale consolidation wave (Pioneer, Hess, Marathon Oil, Endeavor, Chesapeake-Southwestern).

  7. 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.

  8. Jan 2025

    Chevron-Hess and related shale deals close into 2025

    Guyana and Permian barrels concentrate into fewer, better-capitalized operators. Production step-ups in 2025 10-Ks are acquisitions.

  9. Aug 2026

    IEA cuts 2026 world demand 1.6 mb/d

    August 2026 Oil Market Report, under a Strait of Hormuz closure assumption. Modeled world balance, not a US tank gauge.

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.
ItemIEA figureWindowNote
World oil demand, year-on-year change-1.6 mb/d2026510 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/d2Q 2026Deepest quarterly contraction in the 2026 path.
World oil demand, year-on-year change-2.8 mb/d3Q 2026Contraction eases from 2Q.
World oil demand, year-on-year changeReturns to growth4Q 2026IEA: growth of 580 kb/d in 4Q26 in the August report.
World oil demand, year-on-year change+2.4 mb/d2027Rebound year in the same report.
World oil supply, year-on-year change-4.3 mb/d2026August report. July-August hostilities cut the 3Q26 supply path by 1.7 mb/d versus July.
World oil supply110.3 mb/d after +8.3 mb/d rebound2027IEA projection, not a history series.

Companies in the Oil & Gas sector (41)

Related industries

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 August 30, 2026.

Sterling

Prefer Sterling in Google

Add sterlingcharts.com as a preferred source so our charts can appear with a preferred badge in Google Top Stories, AI Mode, and AI Overviews.

Add as preferred source

Ask Sterling

Register for a premium account to gain access to Sterling AI.

Get Started

Things you can ask Sterling:

Summarize Tesla's latest earnings reportWhy did NVIDIA's margins expand?Compare Apple vs Microsoft's cash flowWhat's driving EV industry growth?
Menu
Favorites
Sign upLogin