The 5 Biggest Russian Oil Companies

Russia is the world's third-largest oil producer and ranks as the second-largest natural gas producer in the world. Roughly 11% of the world's supply of oil comes from Russia, and as much as 22.5 trillion cubic feet of global natural gas supplies come from the country. As such, Russia is home to some of the world's largest integrated oil and gas companies. In fact, several of Russia's largest companies consistently rank among the world's most powerful corporations.

All of Russia's largest oil companies maintain substantial upstream and downstream oil and gas operations, including sprawling exploration and production divisions, petroleum refineries and petrochemical plants, and retail service stations. This article focuses on the top five oil companies in Russia as ranked by Forbes' Global 2000 list, which was published in May 2021. The list measures the world's top 2000 companies according to their assets, market value, sales, and profits

1. Rosneft

• Sales: $70.8 billion
• Profit: $2 billion
• Assets: $207.5 billion
• Market Value: $77.7 billion

Rosneft is Russia's biggest oil company. Its primary focus is on oil and gas production, exploration of hydrocarbons, offshore field development, refining, and sales of oil, gas, and refined products. The company accounts for nearly 6% of the world's oil production. According to its website, Rosneft produced 4.14 million barrels per day or 204.5 million tons of liquid hydrocarbons in 2020.

It also ranks among the highest independent gas producers in the country. Rosneft's gas production was over 20% of Russia's hydrocarbon production. Production volume was almost 63 billion cubic meters. In 2020, the company produced 5.19 million barrels per day or 256.2 mmtoes of hydrocarbons.

Rosneft maintains exploration and production activities across Russia and about a dozen other countries as well as 13 refineries in Russia and has an interest in seven additional refineries in Western and Eastern Europe. Rosneft also operates a network of over 3.000 retail gasoline service stations and is Russia's largest supplier of jet fuel.

2. Surgutneftegas

• Sales: $18.8 billion
• Profit: $8.4 billion
• Assets: $79.4 billion
• Market Value: $16.7 billion

Surgutneftegas was founded in 1977 during the region's rise of the oil and gas industry. It has three main segments, including exploration and production, oil refining, and gas production. Operations for its exploration and production unit are in three different areas, namely Western Siberia, Eastern Siberia, and Timan-Pechora.

Surgutneftegas also runs a power generation business and produces petrochemicals. It also operates service stations across the country under five different subsidiaries.

3. Gazprom

• Sales: $90.5 billion
• Loss: $912.2 million
• Assets: $294.9 billion
• Market Value: $73.5 billion

Gazprom is a Russian energy company that focuses on upstream and downstream operations in the oil and gas industry, as well as generating heat and electricity.

The company is among Russia's four largest oil producers. Production is done mainly through its subsidiary, Gazprom Neft. Oil deposits are developed mainly in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Area and the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area – Yugra. It produced 41.6 million tons of oil in 2020.

The company also has one of the world's largest natural gas reserves, accounting for about 16% and 71% of the global and Russian reserves, respectively. It is also among the country's largest producers of liquified natural gas. Roughly 453 million cubic meters of natural and associated gas were produced by the company in 2020.

4. LukOil

• Sales: $71.8 billion
• Profit: $207.9 million
• Assets: $81.5 billion
• Market Value: $52.3 billion

Founded in 1931 and headquartered in Moscow, LukOil is one of the world's largest oil and gas companies. It employs more than 100,000 people, providing services for consumers in more than 100 countries.

The company's growth projects are located in the Northern Caspian Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Timan-Pechora region, Western Siberia, and Uzbekistan. LukOil produced 2.1 million barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) per day in 2020. Its refining throughput for the year totaled 1.2 million barrels per day. Proved hydrocarbon reserves as of Dec. 31, 2020, amounted to 15.4 boe.

In addition to its gas and oil exploration and production activities across Russia, LukOil operates in more than 30 other countries. Its refining and petrochemical operations include six refineries in Russia and an interest in five more refineries in New Zealand and Europe. LukOil also operates power generation facilities in Russia and gasoline service stations in Russia, Europe, and the U.S.

5. Transneft

• Sales: $14.3 billion
• Profit: $2.1 billion
• Assets: $44.1 billion
• Market Value: $13.9 billion

Transeft is based in Moscow and was founded in 1993. It is one of the world's largest oil pipeline companies, moving oil via trunk pipelines in Russia. Transneft is state-controlled but trades preferred shares on the Moscow Exchange.

According to the company's website, Transneft has more than 67,000 kilometers of trunk pipeline, which equates to the transportation of 82% of Russia's supplies of extracted oil. Storage tank capacity totals more than 24 million cubic meters. The company also has more than 500 pumping stations around Russia.