IW 1000: Shell's Crowning Achievement

Around 470 Shell staff and hundreds of contractors work at Shell's Geelong refinery in Australia. The Netherlands-based company achieved 28.12% revenue growth in 2011.

Netherlands-based Royal Dutch Shell PLC edged Exxon Mobil Corp. as the top IW 1000 manufacturer after Exxon had maintained the No. 1 spot the previous five years.

Exxon has dominated the IndustryWeek 1000 ranking of the world’s largest public manufacturers based on revenue since 2001, two years after Exxon Corp. and Mobil Corp. merged. The lone exception was in 2005 when Shell and Exxon Mobil swapped rankings. Shell’s revenues grew 28.1% in 2011 to US$484.5 billion. Exxon Mobil was close behind with revenues reaching $471.1 billion last year, a 26.5% increase.

Despite global disruptions to oil production, including unrest in the Arab world, oil companies benefited from record-high oil prices and increased production. The petroleum and coal products sector led all IW 1000 industries with revenue growth averaging 24.5%. The industry is the largest IW 1000 sector with revenues totaling $5.8 trillion, or 29.2% of total IW 1000 revenues. Overall IW 1000 revenues reached $20.03 trillion last year, a 14.4% increase from 2010.

The petroleum and coal products sector remains strong as global demand for energy increases. In 2011 global energy consumption grew 2.5%, BP PLC (IW 1000/4) reported in its annual “Statistical Review of World Energy.” The oil and gas industry benefited from historically high average oil prices, which topped $100 per barrel for the first time, according to the BP report. Profit growth averaged 54% for the 105 IW 1000 petroleum and coal products companies reporting year-over-year net income growth in 2011.

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