Worldwide crude oil and natural gas reserve additions from exploration and development by the major U.S. energy companies totaled 7.9 billion barrels (oil equivalent) in 2001, the highest level recorded by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) since it began collecting data in 1974.

Exploration and development expenditures by the majors rose 35 percent to $50.2 billion, and capital expenditures reached an all-time high of $110.4 billion, up 1 percent from the previous year.

These facts are recorded in the EIA's recently released Performance Profiles of Major Energy Producers 2001, a comprehensive annual financial review of the global activities of major U.S.-based energy-producing companies. The report looks at aggregate changes in the U.S. energy industry resulting from current operations, and from strategic corporate decisions relating to profits, investments, and new business initiatives.

The analysis in the report is based on financial and operating information submitted to the EIA on Form EIA-28, "Financial Reporting System" (FRS). For 2001, 30 major energy companies ("the FRS companies") with at least 1 percent of U.S. crude oil or natural gas reserves, production, or distillation capacity are included.

These companies occupy a significant position in the U.S. economy; in 2001, their operating revenues totaled $806 billion, equal to 11 percent of the $7.4 trillion in revenues of the "Fortune 500" largest U.S. corporations.

Return on Equity for FRS Companies and the S&P Industrials, 1973-2001

Sources: FRS Companies: Energy Information Administration. S&P Industrials: Compustat PC Plus.

Profits of the major energy companies in 2001 totaled $37.7 billion, 29 percent below 2000's record-setting level of $53.2 billion. Contributing factors included declining crude oil prices, lower rates of economic growth in most areas of the world, a drop in petroleum demand in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, and a large amount of asset writedowns and other unusual items.

Excluding unusual items, the FRS companies' net income in 2001 was $51.2 billion, 8 percent below the level of 2000. The FRS companies' businesses outside of energy did very poorly in 2001. Excluding unusual items, net income from nonenergy businesses fell from $4.5 billion in 2000 to $0.3 billion in 2001.

Capital expenditures for mergers and acquisitions were prominent in 2001, accounting for $46.7 billion or 42 percent of the total. About a third of the merger and acquisition activity in 2001 involved transactions between FRS companies; other large transactions clustered around acquisitions of upstream Canadian companies--mainly for their natural gas reserves--and gas-rich U.S. companies. Most of the remaining capital expenditures were for upstream exploration and development.

Expenditures for unproved acreage, seismic work, drilling, and production equipment rose 35 percent in 2001. The U.S. onshore, which includes Alaska, registered the largest increase, $6.1 billion, in expenditures. Natural gas was the favored target.

Outside the United States, spending more than doubled in Canada, as oil well and gas well completions nearly doubled. Expenditures also surged in Africa, with heightened exploration and development activity in sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa.

Businesses outside of energy and chemicals (the "other nonenergy" lines of business) experienced the greatest cutback in capital expenditures, a 47-percent decline.

Other topics reviewed in Performance Profiles of Major Energy Producers 2001 include recent trends in ownership of worldwide upstream and domestic downstream petroleum assets; changes in the the U.S. major energy companies' regional oil and gas finding costs; increased focus on natural gas; private investment incentives in Venezuela, China, Russia, and Canadian oil sands; the ebbs and flows of the U.S. major energy companies' involvement in "other nonenergy"; and the U.S. major energy companies' refocusing on liquefied natural gas.

Performance Profiles of Major Energy Producers 2001, DOE/EIA-0206(2001); 133 pages, 58 tables, 35 figures.

If you are having technical problems with this website, please contact the EIA Webmaster at wmaster@eia.doe.gov or call 202-586-8959. For general information about energy, contact the National Energy Information Center at 202-586-8800 or infoctr@eia.doe.gov.

Questions about the report's content should be directed to:

Gregory Filas, Office of Energy Markets and End Use

greg.filas@eia.doe.gov

Phone: (202) 586-9753

http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/plugs/plppmp01.html
File last modified: February 25, 2003