The petrochemical industry is concerned with the production and trade of petrochemicals. A major part is constituted by the plastics (polymer) industry. It directly interfaces with the petroleum industry, especially the downstream sector.
The top global petrochemical companies based on different KPIs:
Company | Country | 2008 revenues $ (billion) [1] | 2021 annual revenue $ (million) [2] | 2023 market cap $ (billion) [3] |
---|---|---|---|---|
BASF | Germany | 62.30 | 51.1 | |
Dow Chemical | US | 57.51 | ||
ExxonMobil Chemical / ExxonMobil | US | 55 | 398.6 | 466.8 |
LyondellBasell Industries | Netherlands | 51 | ||
INEOS | UK | 47 | ||
SABIC | Saudi Arabia | 37.66 | ||
Formosa Plastics Corporation | Taiwan | 31.5 | ||
Sumitomo Chemical | Japan | 16.65 | ||
DuPont | US | 31.83 | ||
Chevron Phillips / Chevron Corp | US | 13 | 235.7 | 349.8 |
Saudi Arabian Oil Company | Saudi Arabia | 605.1 | 1900 | |
China National Petroleum Corp Petrochina Co. Ltd. | CN | 505.3 | 425.8 | |
Sinochem Holdings | CN | 258.3 | ||
Shell plc | CN | 381.3 | 205.6 | |
China Petroleum & Chemical Corp | CN | 493.1 | 77.2 | |
TotalEnergies SE | FR | 263.3 | 157.9 | |
BP plc | FR | 241.3 | 107.1 | |
Marathon Petroleum Corp | US | 178.8 | 58.9 | |
Valero Energy | US | 176.3 | 55 | |
Reliance Industries Limited | IN | 202.4 |
The chemical industry comprises the companies and other organizations that develop and produce industrial, specialty and other chemicals. Central to the modern world economy, it converts raw materials into commodity chemicals for industrial and consumer products. It includes industries for petrochemicals such as polymers for plastics and synthetic fibers; inorganic chemicals such as acids and alkalis; agricultural chemicals such as fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides; and other categories such as industrial gases, speciality chemicals and pharmaceuticals.
Petrochemicals are the chemical products obtained from petroleum by refining. Some chemical compounds made from petroleum are also obtained from other fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas, or renewable sources such as maize, palm fruit or sugar cane.
Reliance Industries Limited is an Indian multinational conglomerate headquartered in Mumbai. Its businesses include energy, petrochemicals, natural gas, retail, entertainment, telecommunications, mass media, and textiles. Reliance is the largest public company in India by market capitalisation and revenue, and the 100th largest company worldwide. It is India's largest private tax payer and largest exporter, accounting for 7% of India's total merchandise exports. The company has relatively little free cash flow and high corporate debt.
TotalEnergies SE is a French multinational integrated energy and petroleum company founded in 1924 and is one of the seven supermajor oil companies. Its businesses cover the entire oil and gas chain, from crude oil and natural gas exploration and production to power generation, transportation, refining, petroleum product marketing, and international crude oil and product trading. TotalEnergies is also a large-scale chemicals manufacturer.
HELLENiQ ENERGY Holdings S.A., formerly known as Hellenic Petroleum S.A., is one of the largest oil companies in Southeast Europe and with its roots dating to 1958 with the establishment of the first oil refinery in Aspropyrgos, Greece.
LyondellBasell Industries N.V. is an American multinational chemical company incorporated in the Netherlands with U.S. operations headquartered in Houston, Texas, and offices in London, UK. The company is the largest licensor of polyethylene and polypropylene technologies. It also produces ethylene, propylene, polyolefins, and oxyfuels.
Saudi Basic Industries Corporation, known as SABIC, is a Saudi chemical manufacturing company. 70% of SABIC's shares are owned by Saudi Aramco. It is active in petrochemicals, chemicals, industrial polymers and fertilizers. It is the second largest public company in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia as listed in Tadawul.
MOL Plc., also known as MOL Group, is a Hungarian multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Budapest, Hungary. Members of MOL Group include among others the Croatian and Slovak formerly state-owned oil and gas companies, INA and Slovnaft. MOL is Hungary's most profitable enterprise, with net profits of $770 million in 2019. The company is also the third most valuable company in Central and Eastern Europe and placed 402 on the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's largest companies in 2013.
The National Petrochemical Company (NPC), a subsidiary to the Iranian Petroleum Ministry, is owned by the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is responsible for the development and operation of the country's petrochemical sector. Founded in 1964, NPC began its activities by operating a small fertilizer plant in Shiraz.
The Ministry of Petroleum (MOP) (Persian: وزارت نفت, romanized: Vezârat-e Naft) manages the oil industry, the producer of oil and petrochemical products. MoP is in charge of all issues pertaining to exploration, extraction, exploitation, distribution and exportation of crude oil and oil products. In addition, according to the "Imports and Exports Regulation Act", issuing import licenses for such products is also among the functions of the Ministry of Petroleum. The ministry has been placed under sanctions by the United States Department of State as of 2020.
The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC) is an Indian central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. The company is headquartered in Delhi. ONGC was founded on 14 August 1956 by the Government of India. It is the largest government-owned-oil and gas explorer and producer in the country and produces around 70 percent of India's domestic production of crude oil and around 84 percent of natural gas. ONGC is vertically integrated across the entire oil and gas industry. In November 2010, the Government of India conferred the Maharatna status to ONGC.
The fossil fuels lobby includes paid representatives of corporations involved in the fossil fuel industry, as well as related industries like chemicals, plastics, aviation and other transportation. Because of their wealth and the importance of energy, transport and chemical industries to local, national and international economies, these lobbies have the capacity and money to attempt to have outsized influence on governmental policy. In particular, the lobbies have been known to obstruct policy related to environmental protection, environmental health and climate action.
Orgalim represents Europe’s technology industries, comprised of 770,000 companies that innovate at the crossroads of digital and physical technology. Our industries develop and manufacture the products, systems and services that enable a prosperous and sustainable future.
Energy in Kazakhstan describes energy and electricity production, consumption and import in Kazakhstan and the politics of Kazakhstan related to energy.
The economy of Gujarat, a state in Western India, is the most industrialised in India, having the highest industrial output of any state in the union. It has the highest exports of any Indian state, accounting for 33% of all Indian exports in 2022-23. It leads in diverse industrial sectors such as chemicals, petrochemicals, dairy, drugs and pharmaceuticals, cement and ceramics, gems and jewellery, textiles and engineering. It has the highest Electricity Production Capacity and Maritime Port Cargo Volume among all states in India. It also has significant agricultural production with major agricultural produce of the state being cotton, groundnuts (peanuts), dates, sugar cane, milk and milk products. Gujarat recorded the lowest unemployment rate in India in 2022, with 4.4% of the labour force being unemployed.
Iran is an energy superpower and the petroleum industry in Iran plays an important part in it. In 2004, Iran produced 5.1 percent of the world's total crude oil, which generated revenues of US$25 billion to US$30 billion and was the country's primary source of foreign currency. At 2006 levels of production, oil proceeds represented about 18.7% of gross domestic product (GDP). However, the importance of the hydrocarbon sector to Iran's economy has been far greater. The oil and gas industry has been the engine of economic growth, directly affecting public development projects, the government's annual budget, and most foreign exchange sources.
Specialty chemicals are particular chemical products which provide a wide variety of effects on which many other industry sectors rely. Some of the categories of speciality chemicals are adhesives, agrichemicals, cleaning materials, colors, cosmetic additives, construction chemicals, elastomers, flavors, food additives, fragrances, industrial gases, lubricants, paints, polymers, surfactants, and textile auxiliaries. Other industrial sectors such as automotive, aerospace, food, cosmetics, agriculture, manufacturing, and textiles are highly dependent on such products.
Energy in Serbia is dominated by fossil fuels, despite the public preference for renewable energy.
SOHAR Port and Freezone is a deep-sea port and adjacent free zone in the Middle East, located in Sohar, Sultanate of Oman, midway between Dubai and Muscat. With current investments exceeding $26 billion, it is one of the world's fastest growing port and free zone developments and lies at the centre of global trade routes between Europe and Asia.
Indian Oil Corporation Limited, trading as IndianOil, is an Indian multinational oil and gas company under the ownership of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. Registered in Mumbai but headquartered in New Delhi, it is a public sector undertaking whose operations are overseen by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Indian Oil is ranked 94th on the Fortune Global 500 list of the world's biggest corporations as of 2022. It is the largest government owned oil producer in the country both in terms of capacity and revenue. It has consolidated refining capacity of 80.55MMTPA which it intends to increase to 107MMTPA by 2024-25. As of 31 March 2021, Indian Oil's employee strength is 31,648, out of which 17,762 are executives and 13,876 non-executives, while 2,776 are women, comprising 8.77% of the total workforce. As On 31.3.2024 IOC Employed 30,321 Employees. Out Of Which Executives Account 18,570 & Non Executives Account 11,751.