Analysis of Woodside Petroleum, British Petroleum, and ExxonMobil in the Oil and Gas Industry

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ECON6007 HYDROCARBON ECONOMICS AND PROJECT
MANAGEMENT

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Executive summary
Information regarding the decisions and the financial performances of an organization is
important for investors to evaluate the effectiveness of the investment. The past performances
and the histories of decision making also provide a hint regarding the future of the company.
Apart from that, the study of any specific industry also provides knowledge so that
information regarding the returns from that industry can be found out.
This paper aims at analyzing the performances, past strategies and the financial stabilities of
three global companies operating in oil and gas industry. These three companies include
Woodside Petroleum Limited, British Petroleum, and Exxon Mobil. The report sheds light on
the financial performances, liquidity and the stability of the organizations. In addition to that,
a presentation of the overall performances of the oil and the natural gas industry is also done
in the report. Furthermore, the study also includes a forecasting study of the industry in order
to find out the expected behavior of the oil and the natural gas industry in the future.
Woodside Petroleum Company is the largest oil and natural gas company in Australia. This is
a public company which has the largest share of the market. Apart from the oil and the
natural gas, the company also invested in other projects within Australia in order to diversify
its operation. The company has their petrol stations in other countries such as Myanmar,
United States, Senegal and Republic of Korea as well. There is a number of oil-developing
offshore sites under the banner of the company.
British Petroleum is one of the biggest oil and Gas Company of Britain based in London.
Following its impressive performance in the year 2012, this company has made it to the seven
supermajor companies of the world. This organization is vertically oriented and operation of
the company encompasses different sectors of the oil and natural gas industry. As of the data
of 2016, the operation of the company is spread across 72 countries making 3.6 million
barrels of production per day.
ExxonMobil is the tenth largest player in the market for oil and natural gas. The daily
production of the company has reached 3.9 million barrels since the year 2015. This company
is also the 9th largest publicly traded company in the world. The company has around 37 oil
refinery and offshore projects in more than 24 countries of the world.
All the three companies are a potential destination for lump sum investment and have their
own advantages and disadvantages. However, over the years these companies have been an
attractive place for the investors to invest their fund.

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Table of contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
The portfolios of the selected companies...................................................................................4
Woodside Petroleum Limited.................................................................................................4
British Petroleum....................................................................................................................5
ExxonMobil............................................................................................................................7
Future of the energy market.......................................................................................................8
Estimation of prices and demand in oil and gas industry...........................................................9
The forecast of the gas market in the future.............................................................................11
Conclusion................................................................................................................................11
Reference..................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction
The financial performances of organizations and the decision makings are not only
important from the perspective of the management of the company, it also important from the
perspective of investors as well. The accurate decision making of the organizations, apart
from bringing success to the companies also attract the investors. The aim of this paper is to
present an analysis of three global organizations operating in Oil and gas industries. It also
summarises the production and the financial decisions of the company. In addition to that, the
study also showcases the overview of the oil and gas industry as a whole thereby discussing
the effects of the changes in the industry.
The portfolios of the selected companies
Woodside Petroleum Limited
This is one of the biggest oil and natural gas Company based in Australia. As per the figure
of 2016, the company has a market share of 27% (Shukla, Amit, and Hamad 2016). The
company has started investing in different offshoring projects in order to expand the
economic activity of the company. The company was incorporated in 26th July 1954 and
initially the name of the company was after the small town Woodside, Victoria, Australia.
The early operation of the company was limited in Victoria and in the year 1960 it moved in
the north east part of Australia in collaboration with Shell and Bumrah oil. Immediately after
this, BHP replaced Bumrah oil in the consortium and bought 34% of the shares of Woodside
Petroleum Company. In the year 1990, both the company sold out their share of the
company’s stock and Woodside became an independent oil and natural gas company.
Analysis of the assets
The assets of the company include both the domestic and the international assets. According
to the data of Beyer et al. (2015) the company operates in other major countries such as South
Korea, United States and many more. Thus, apart from asset development within the country,
the asset of the county is also spread across in many parts of the globe. In addition to that, the
assets of the company in the international market are rapidly increasing. In countries like
South Korea and united state, it has started projects for exploration and extraction. The Pluto
NG project of the company contributes to the most part of the asset and the development of
the company. Again the North West shelf project has also huge share in the overall assets of
the company.
Financial performances