Energy

Becoming Big Oil: How the 10 Largest Oil Companies Were Born

Published

8 years ago

November 30, 2015

Jeff Desjardins

Becoming Big Oil: How the 10 Largest Oil Companies Were Born

The size and scope of Big Oil is truly mind-boggling.

For example, Chinese government-owned Sinopec, the world’s largest oil company by 2014 revenues, employs 358,571 people and brought in a whopping $455 billion in revenue last year.

Royal Dutch Shell is no slouch, either. The world’s third largest oil company generated $422 billion in revenue in 2014 and is the U.S. market leader in gas stations with 25,000.

Collectively, the numbers from the world’s 10 biggest oil companies are even more impressive. Worldwide, they generated $3.26 trillion in revenue in 2014, which is more than the entire GDP of the United Kingdom. The combined daily oil production of these same companies is 40 million barrels of oil, enough to fill 2,543 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Big Oil has more behemoth companies than all other industries combined. Even with the recent decline in oil prices, half of Fortune’s 10 Largest Companies list is composed of oil conglomerates. The Swiss commodity giant Glencore, one of the “other” five companies on the list, also makes a significant portion of revenue from trading oil.

The question is: how did these companies get so big?

Today’s infographic, from drill rig supplier Rigsource, tries to answer this question. Looking at a century of mergers and acquisitions, it becomes clear that these companies were not always giants. They became their current size through various mergers and acquisitions that happened over the course of the last century, and it is these economies of scale that has allowed them to generate the kind of revenue they do today.

Energy

Ranked: Electric Vehicle Sales by Model in 2023

Today, electric vehicle sales make up 18% of global vehicle sales. Here are the leading models by sales as of August 2023.

Published

5 days ago

December 1, 2023

Marcus Lu

The Highest Electric Vehicle Sales, by Model

Ranked: Electric Vehicle Sales by Model in 2023

Electric vehicle (EV) sales are gaining momentum, reaching 18% of global vehicle sales in 2023.

As new competitors bring more affordable options and new performance features, the market continues to mature as customers increasingly look to electric options.

This graphic ranks the top-selling EVs worldwide as of August 2023, based on data from CleanTechnica.

The Best Selling EVs in 2023 (Through August)

Below, we show the world’s best selling fully electric vehicles from January to August 2023:

Model	Country	Vehicles Sold (Jan-Aug 2023)
Tesla Model Y	🇺🇸 U.S.	772,364
Tesla Model 3	🇺🇸 U.S.	364,403
BYD Atto 3 / Yuan Plus	🇨🇳 China	265,688
BYD Dolphin	🇨🇳 China	222,825
GAC Aion S	🇨🇳 China	160,693
Wuling HongGuang Mini EV	🇨🇳 China	153,399
GAC Aion Y	🇨🇳 China	136,619
VW ID.4	🇩🇪 Germany	120,154
BYD Seagull	🇨🇳 China	95,202

As we can see, Tesla‘s Model Y still holds a comfortable lead over the competition with 772,364 units sold. That’s more than double the sales of the #2 top selling vehicle, Tesla’s Model 3 (364,403)

But it’s hard to ignore the rising prevalence of Chinese EVs. The next five best selling EV vehicles are Chinese, including three from BYD. The automaker’s Atto 3 (or Yuan Plus, depending on market), is being sold in various countries including Germany, the UK, Japan, and India.

Meanwhile, Chinese automaker GAC Group also had two models of its Aion EV brand make the rankings, with the Aion S selling 160,693 units so far.

Regional market strength is also clear. For Volkswagen’s ID.4 model (120,154 units sold), Europe and China account for the majority of sales.

Given growing cost efficiencies and changing consumer behavior, global EV sales are projected to make up half of new car sales globally by 2035, according to forecasts from Goldman Sachs.