Who Are ExxonMobil’s Main Competitors?

ExxonMobil (XOM) is the largest and most profitable oil and gas company in the U.S. and is also one of the largest companies in the world. As of Jan. 8, 2025, the company had a market capitalization of more than $469 billion with more than 14 million shares traded in average daily volume.

It is a major integrated energy company with many energy commodity interests, including electrical power generating operations. At the core of its business is the exploration, production, and distribution of oil and natural gas. In 2023, ExxonMobil earned $36 billion and had net oil-equivalent production of 3.7 million barrels per day. XOM had a dividend yield of 3.69% as of Jan. 8, 2025.

This is a look at some of Exxon Mobile’s top competitors, which include Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Shell.

Key Takeaways

• ExxonMobil is the largest and most profitable oil and gas company in the U.S. with domestic and global rivals.
• Chevron is the second-largest U.S. oil company.
• ConocoPhillips is a U.S.-based energy exploration and production company.
• Previously known as Royal Dutch Shell, Shell PLC is a London-based energy company that also invests in alternative energy sources.

Chevron Corporation

Originally headquartered in San Ramon, California, Chevron (CVX) announced a move to Houston, Texas in August 2024. Chevron is the second-largest U.S. oil company, with a market capitalization of about $267.3 billion and an average daily trading volume of more than seven million shares as of Jan. 8, 2025. The company has integrated petroleum, chemicals, mining, and power generation operations.

Chevron had total earnings of $21.3 billion in 2023, and its annual per-share dividend payout has consistently risen each year. The company’s average oil-equivalent production was 3.1 million barrels per day. CVX returned $26.3 billion to shareholders in 2023 in the form of $11.3 billion in dividends and $14.9 billion in share repurchases.

ConocoPhillips

ConocoPhillips (COP) is a Houston-based company that positioned itself as an exploration and production company within the oil and gas industry. The company engages in the worldwide exploration, production, transportation, and marketing of crude oil, bitumen, natural gas, natural gas liquids, and liquefied natural gas.

As of Jan. 8, 2025, the company’s market capitalization was $131.52 billion, and its average daily trading volume was 6.61 million shares. At that time, COP paid a dividend yield of 3.07%. 

ConocoPhillips earned a total of $11 billion in 2023, and it produced over 1.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day. The company also had another 6.8 billion barrels of reserves for the year.

Shell PLC

Originally from the Netherlands and known as Royal Dutch Shell, this company is now based in London and simply goes by Shell (SHEL). The company had a market capitalization of more than $195 billion as of Jan. 8, 2025, with more than 4.1 million shares traded in average daily volume.

Shell had net earnings of $28 billion in 2023 and ended the year with reserves of nine billion barrels of oil equivalent. 

Shell also invests in alternative energy sources. The company has interests in numerous wind energy projects in North America, Europe, and Asia, including multiple in its original home of the Netherlands. It anticipates that its future growth will come from its upstream operations, where technological advances will help the company find new liquid and natural gas reserves. The company also has growth strategies in integrated gas and underwater drilling.

Is ExxonMobil a Downstream or Upstream Company?

ExxonMobil is considered an integrated company, which means it has upstream and downstream operations. As part of its upstream operations, the company explores, extracts, and ships raw materials. The majority of its profits are derived from its upstream operations. XOM’s downstream operations involve the manufacturing and distribution of crude oil products.

What Does Downstream Mean in the Oil and Gas Industry?

The term downstream refers to a side of the oil and gas industry that involves converting oil and gas into finished products. Downstream operations results in the production of natural gas, gasoline, and other types of energy sources. Energy companies that are exclusively involved in downstream activities are directly linked to end users. Many companies, though, are involved in downstream, midstream (refining), and upstream (exploration and extraction).

Who Are ExxonMobil’s Largest Institutional Shareholders?

The largest institutional shareholders of ExxonMobil are Vanguard, Blackrock, and State Street. They held 432.11 million (9.83% of outstanding shares), 306.81 million (6.98% of outstanding shares), and 221.68 million (5.04% of outstanding shares), respectively. These figures are as of Sept. 30, 2024.

The Bottom Line

ExxonMobil is a U.S.-based crude oil and natural gas company with operations around the world. Since it has upstream and downstream operations, it explores, produces, transports, manufactures, and sells crude oil and gas products. Although XOM competes with rivals Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and Shell domestically and abroad, it retains the top spot in the United States.