Developed countries represent the largest consumers of oil globally. Statoil is a fully integrated oil and gas company operating in industry segments such as the production and refining of petroleum, natural gas, and petrochemicals.
Crude oil is the largest segment of the global oil and gas market, accounting for 62.9% of the markets total volume. The natural gas segment accounts for the remaining 37.1% of the market. Asia-Pacific accounts for 35.8% of the global oil and gas market value, while the Americas accounts for a further 31.5% of the global market, Europe accounts for 24.8% while the middle east accounts for 7.9% of the global market. Where geographic segmentation is concerned the axis of the oil market is shifting from the trade between the Middle East exporters and US and European importers to one that links Asian developing markets to Middle East, which no longer has sufficient oil to support these markets’ growing needs. Oil production in the US was the largest in the world in 2012 3.1.42.1.2 Market structure, size, growth and cyclicality
As indicated above, the global oil and gas industry comprises two streams, which are ‘upstream - made up of petroleum exploration, production and extraction including activities such as signing of leases, placing produced liquids and gas into pipelines, midstream - comprising of processing and transporting of produced liquids and gas from the well site to a downstream facility such as a