EXXONMOBIL has snatched the top spot in the Forbes Fortune 500 list for 2012, beating out last year’s top dog Wal-Mart while fellow oil companies Chevron and ConocoPhillips have made it into the top five on the back of surging oil prices.
Image courtesy of ExxonMobil.
For Exxon, 2011 was a pretty good year with its shares rising 20% on the New York Stock Exchange while profit was up 35% to $US41.1 billion ($A40.4 billion) while revenues shot up 28% to $452.9 billion.
While the company has certainly benefited from a strong oil price, its acquisition of gas driller XTO Energy back in 2010 for $35 billion ensured Exxon had a big presence in the North American gas game.
Meanwhile, just behind retail giant Wal-Mart, Chevron managed to snag third on the Fortune 500 list despite slumping late in the year, slugged by tightening margins for its refining business.
Still, it managed to book a 25% increase in revenue for the full year, to $245.6 billion, and an impressive 41% jump in profits, to $26.9 billion.
Fourth on the list was ConocoPhillips, which wasn’t considered by Forbes to be two separate entities despite the spin-off of refining and marketing arm Phillips 66.
Forbes said if Phillips 66 and ConocoPhillips were considered separately, Phillips66 would still be fourth on the list, as it makes 80% of the combined companies’ revenue.
