Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries becomes world's 3rd largest energy firm

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd has jumped five places to rank as the world's third-biggest energy company behind Russian gas giant Gazprom and German utility E.ON, according to Platts Top 250 global energy company rankings released on Monday. Public sector Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) broke into the top 10 club, climbing to 7th position in the 2017 ranking, up from 14th rank in 2016.

IOC has been steadily climbing the rankings from the 66th spot in 2015. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) was placed at 11th position in 2017 as against 20th in 2016. While 14 Indian energy companies made it to the S&P Global Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings, they were one short of the tally held last year, Platts said in a statement.

Reliance, the owner of world's biggest refinery complex, located on the Gujarat coast at Jamnagar, was ranked at the 7th position last year. Coal India Ltd, the world's largest coal producer, was the only Indian firm to have slipped in ranking to 45 in 2017 from 38 last year.

The other Indian companies in the ranking included Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (39), Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (48), Power Grid Corp (81) and GAIL India Ltd (106). Russia's Gazprom bagged the number 1 spot, ending US oil and gas giant ExxonMobil's 12-year reign at the top of the list .

ExxonMobil fell to the 9th place. Among this year's biggest movers is E.ON, which climbed 112 places to 2nd place from 114th. South Korea's Korea Electric Power is ranked 4th, followed by China Petroleum & Chemical and Russia's PJSC Lukoil.

The annual Top 250, published by S&P Global Platts, ranks companies based on financial performance using four key metrics: asset worth, revenues, profits, and return on invested capital.

All companies on the list have assets greater than USD 5.5 billion. The trouble with coal was especially acute in Asia, with China's production falling by 7.9 per cent or 140 million tons of oil-equivalent (mtoe), a record decline.

Those headwinds translated into swings in this year's Platts rankings for coal interests, the statement said while explaining the reason for Coal India slipping. Overall, thanks to the new entrants buoyed by utilities and pipelines, revenues of the Top 10 global energy companies surged more than 30 per cent to USD 1.1 trillion from USD 830.2 billion in the 2016 rankings.

Collectively, the world's top 10 companies posted combined profits of USD 63.7 billion last year, 14 per cent lower than the USD 74.3 billion posted the year before, it said. The Top 250 profit figures are adjusted for preferred dividends and exclude discontinued operations and extraordinary operations.