In a statement sent to Rigzone recently, Enverus announced that it has released a list of the 50 “most prolific … public oil and gas operators in the U.S. based on gross operated production last year”.
According to the list, which was seen by Rigzone, in 1H24, ExxonMobil ranked first with 1.96 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, followed by Expand Energy, with 1.69 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, and Occidental Petroleum, with 1.22 million barrels of oil equivalent per day.
EOG Resources was ranked fourth, with 1.18 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, and Devon Energy came in fifth, with 979,550 barrels of oil equivalent per day, the list showed.
ExxonMobil’s production had an oil weighting of 53 percent and its active rig count came in at 19, according to Enverus’ list, which highlighted that the company ranked first in 2023. Expand Energy’s production had an oil weighting of one percent and its active rig count came in at 10, the list highlighted. The company is a new addition to the rankings, the list pointed out.
In terms of oil weighted production, Occidental Petroleum came in at 58 percent, EOG Resources came in at 56 percent, and Devon Energy came in at 57 percent, the list revealed. In terms of active rig count, Occidental Petroleum had 27, EOG Resources had five, and Devon Energy had 26, the list showed. Occidental Petroleum ranked fifth in last year’s list, EOG Resources was third, and Devon Energy was ninth, Enverus’ list highlighted.
Enverus’ list noted that companies were ranked by average gross operated production from onshore wells in the Lower 48 states.
“Production and ranking for both 1H24 and 2023 include all gross operated production from assets and companies acquired up to and including 10/10/24 as accounted for in Enverus’ platform; as a result, all changes in rankings are based on organic production changes on the post-transacted assets,” the list stated.
“Oil production includes condensate … Rig numbers are as of 10/10/24. Numbers are subject to change because of lags in reporting,” it added.
In the statement sent to Rigzone, Enverus CEO Manuj Nikhanj said, “last year, the top 10 public operators represented 56 percent of production out of the top 50 on a barrel of oil equivalent per day basis”.
“Due to mergers, we see that same figure jump to 62 percent of production in part due to Pioneer Natural Resources joining ExxonMobil, and Chesapeake and Southwestern rolling together into the newly formed Expand Energy,” Nikhanj added.
“It’s clear that the Permian is still the king, and the most active region operated by the top 50 operators. Seven of the top 10 have the Permian as their most active region,” Nikhanj continued.
“Volume-wise, the Permian also dominates the rankings – 81 percent of oil production and 40 percent of gas production from the top 50 names comes from this one basin,” Nikhanj continued.
The Enverus CEO went on to note in the statement that “the top 50 names were running a total of 298 rigs at the time of list compilation, compared to 322 from the prior year at a similar point in time”.
“Notwithstanding the pull back, the approximately 10 percent increase in rig efficiency over this period is driving production growth, even at lower activity levels,” Nikhanj added.
Rigzone contacted ExxonMobil, Expand Energy, Occidental Petroleum, EOG Resources, and Devon Energy for comment on the Enverus list and statement. Occidental declined to comment. The other companies have not yet responded to Rigzone at the time of writing.
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