Unlike Integrated Oil Companies (IOCs) such as BP(BP), Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B), TOTAL (TOT) and others, National Oil Companies (NOCs) are majority-owned by the state. For example, the Norwegian government is the largest shareholder in Statoil (STO), the country’s largest oil company. The state owns 67% of all outstanding shares of Statoil. Some consider NOCs to be better than IOCs since the ownership interest lies with the states and they are able to use revenues from NOCs to offer many social benefits for everyone in the country.

The following 11 NOCs appeared in the PFC Energy’s Top 50 list for 2009:

1. Petro-China(PTR)
China

2. Petrobras(PBR)
Brazil

3. China Petroleum & Chemical Corp.(SNP)
China

4. Gazprom (OTC: OGZPY)
Russia

5. Rosneft Oil Co
Russia

6. CNOOC (CEO)
China

7. Statoil (STO)
Norway

8. ONGC Ltd.
India

9. Ecopetrol (EC)
Colombia

10. PTT
Indonesia

11. JSC Gazprom Neft (OTC:GZPFY)
Russia