Oil & Gas Producers
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 4,600 oil and gas producers in the US sell crude petroleum and natural gas from on-shore and off-shore wells to refineries, energy brokers, and other energy companies. Industry revenue is about evenly split between crude petroleum and natural gas.
Oil and Gas Price Volatility
Large declines in oil and gas prices have repercussions for producers.
Tapping Domestic Shale Deposits
The costs and hazards of transporting natural gas over long distances by ship dictate that the US’s primary sources of natural gas be domestic.
Industry size & Structure
A typical oil and gas producer operates from a single location and has annual revenues of $50 million.
- There are about 4,600 oil and gas exploration and production firms in the US that employ 117,000 workers and generate $230 billion in annual revenue.
- 81% of firms have fewer than 10 employees and just 4% have more than 100 employees.
- Large exploration and production firms include: Exxon Mobil (Integrated), Chevron (Integrated), Apache Corporation, Occidental Petroleum, Devon Energy, and Range Resources.
- Entry into the business is difficult, as exploration is expensive and a proven track record is essential in attracting capital.
- In addition, the competition for high-quality drilling and services is intense, and preference is given to partners with good prior experiences.
Industry Forecast
Oil & Gas Producers Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Feb 27, 2025 - Producer Prices Rebounding
- Producer prices for oil and gas extraction firms rose 4.7% in December compared to a year ago after tumbling 28.3% in the previous December-versus-December annual comparison, according to the latest US Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Industry producer prices skyrocketed from the onset of the pandemic until mid-2022, when gas prices peaked but have since fallen back to earth. Employment by oil and gas extraction firms grew 0.8% year over year in January, while average wages fell 2.4% YoY in December to $43.48 per hour, BLS data show.
- On his first day in office, President Trump declared a national energy emergency to maximize oil and gas production, speed permitting, roll back environmental protections, and withdraw the US from the 2015 Paris climate deal. But with US production at record levels, it remains to be seen if Trump’s actions will have any impact. The American Petroleum Institute, the national trade association of the oil and natural gas industry, has a detailed roadmap for Trump 2.0 that includes swiftly authorizing liquified natural gas exports, expanding drilling on federal lands, making pipeline permitting easier, repealing strict vehicle emissions and fuel economy standards, and keeping current corporate tax rates in place. More recently, Trump lifted some of his predecessor’s restrictions on oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters and rescinded Biden’s last-minute order to block 625 million acres offshore from oil and gas drilling — including the entire Atlantic and Pacific coasts.
- The post-election mood in the oil and gas industry is one of high optimism, according to The American Oil & Gas Reporter. “It borders on exuberant,” described Karr Ingham, president of Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. There’s a sense of relief in the industry that the Biden administration’s anti-fossil-fuels approach will soon be in the past. The national trade association for the oil and gas industry, the American Petroleum Institute, has a roadmap for the Trump administration that includes swiftly authorizing liquified natural gas exports, expanding drilling on federal lands, making pipeline permitting easier, repealing strict vehicle emissions and fuel economy standards, and keeping current corporate tax rates in place. Trump has said he’ll create a National Energy Council to “oversee the path to US energy dominance,” and has tapped Doug Bergum, governor of oil-rich North Dakota to head the Interior Department.
- Oil and gas production companies are expanding offshore drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico in part because doing so releases fewer greenhouse gases than drilling on land, The New York Times reports. Industry executives are betting on sustained demand for oil and gas for years to come and argue that offshore drilling is better for the climate than drilling on land because offshore operations emit far less greenhouse gases than producing the same amount of oil and gas on land, according to NYT. The greenhouse gas emissions associated with extracting a barrel of oil from the Gulf of Mexico are as much as a third lower than emissions from producing a barrel of oil from fields on US soil, according to a report published last year by the National Ocean Industries Association, an industry group for offshore oil, gas, and wind businesses, cited by NYT.
Get A Demo
Vertical IQ’s Industry Intelligence Platform
See for yourself why over 60,000 users trust Vertical IQ for their industry research and call preparation needs. Our easy-to-digest industry insights save call preparation time and help differentiate you from the competition.
Build valuable, lasting relationships by having smarter conversations -
check out Vertical IQ today.