The World’s Biggest Crude Oil Producers in 2009

Posted by on

For the first time since 1991, Russia beat Saudi Arabia to become the the world’s biggest producer of crude oil in 2009. Russia’s average output was 10.0 million barrels per day compared to 9.7 million barrels by Saudi Arabia.

The Top 10 Global Crude Oil Producers in 2009

Source: Euromonitor International from BP Statistical Review of World Energy

In addition to crude oil, Russia is also the world’s biggest exporter of natural gas. While Russia was the world’s biggest producer of crude oil last year, in terms of proven oil reserves and production capacity Saudi Arabia still takes the top spot. Both Russia and Saudi Arabia are competing to export more oil to China. China is already the largest fastest-growing international export market. In August this year the first section of a major pipeline connecting Siberia and China was opened, allowing easier access for Russian oil to the Chinese market.

Some of the Russian oil & gas producers that trade on the US markets are : Gazprom(OGZPY), Gazprom Neft (GZPFY),LUKOIL (LUKOY),Surgutneftegaz (SGTZY) and Tatneft (OAOFY).

It interesting to note that Canada produced more crude oil than the Gulf countries of Iraq and Kuwait.

ICIS Top 100 Global Chemical Companies 2010

Posted by on

The ICIS Chemical Business magazine published its annual ranking of the World’s Top 100 Chemical Firms based on sales in 2009. The top 10 chemical firms are:

  1. BASF (BASFY)
  2. Dow Chemical (DOW)
  3. ExxonMobil (XOM)
  4. Sinopec (SHI)
  5. LyondellBasell Industries
  6. Shell (RDS.A,RDS.B)
  7. SABIC
  8. Mitsubishi Chemical
  9. DuPont (DD)
  10. INEOS

The complete list of ICIS Top 100 Chemical firms in PDF format can be found by clicking here.

The Top 15 Global Chemical Companies of the Decade

Posted by on

As part of its annual ranking of the top 100 chemical companies in the world, the ICIS Chemical Business magazine published the top 15 global chemical players over the last decade. The graphic below shows the top 15 companies based on turnover:

Click to Enlarge


A few observations on this ranking:

The German chemical giant BASF (BASFY) takes the top spot. Sales went from around $29B in 2001 to $87B in 2008. BASF continues to maintain the leadership position in the industry since 2000.With the purchase of  Ciba speciality chemicals and Cognis BASF has the plenty of potential for further growth.

While most of the companies in list held their positions since 2000, the five newcomers are SABIC, Sinopec (SHI), LyondellBasell Industries, INEOS and Sumitomo Chemical.

US chemical maker DuPont(DD) has had a low sales growth in the past 10 years with sales oscillating between $24B and $30B.

The oil majors ExxonMobil(XOM), Shell(RDS.A, RDS.B), BP(BP) and Total (TOT) are in this ranking due to their significant operations in the petrochemical sector.

Peruvian Equity Market Continues To Climb

Posted by on

The main Peruvian equity index IGBVL has climbed over 27%  in the last two months due to rising metal prices. Yesterday the index closed at 19,499. During the credit crisis the index reached just below 6000.

The Peruvian market has been on an upward trend since September. Last year the market went up 100.99% in local currency terms completely erasing the losses of 2008. According to a CEIC Macro Watch report, analysts expect the momentum in the mining sector to continue and also the strong macroeconomic foundations of the domestic economy to benefit equity prices.

Some of the Peruvian stocks that are listed in the US are Compania de Minas Buenaventura (BVN) and  Creditcorp  Ltd. (BAP) on the NYSE and Cementos Lima (CEMTY),  Ferreyros (FERXY) and  Grana y Montero (GRYMY) on the OTC market.

Compania de Minas Buenaventura (BVN)  is Peru’s largest publicly-traded precious-metal mining company engaged in the extraction of silver, gold, zinc, lead and copper. BVN’s 5-year average annual growth rate is about 22%.

Credicorp Ltd. (BAP) is a financial services holding company that operates in the banking and insurance sectors. The stock more than tripled form its March 2009 lows of about $35 and closed at $126.40 yesterday.

Cementos Lima(CEMTY) is cement, ready-mixed concrete, and brick maker.The company also mines lime and gypsum and imports coal and resells whole or pulverized coal. Year-to-date the stock is up over 64%.

Ferreyros(FERXY) is an importer of industrial engineering goods such as Caterpillar bulldozers, Massey-Ferguson tractors, etc. YTD the stock is up over 83%.

Grana y Montero  (GRYMY) is a construction and materials company with operations in building projects, toll roads, etc. YTD the ADR has shot up by about 137%.

Another easy way to gain exposure to the Peruvian market is via the iShares MSCI All Peru Capped Index Fund (EPU). The fund has an asset base of about $427M and holds 26 companies with the materials industry accounting for about 60% of total holdings.

Related:
Investing in Frontier Emerging Markets (Bloomberg Businessweek)