Did you know that the oil and natural gas industry employs nearly 6% of the American workforce? With almost ten million employable positions in the industry, it’s no surprise that they provide jobs for such a large chunk of the American population.
You may think that the natural gas industry only has jobs for people with technical, engineering, or machinery expertise, but with the sheer size of the industry, there are plenty more roles available.
Not only do natural gas companies need workers who can help drill and extract the gas, but they need to process and deliver it as well. This creates lots of job opportunities for people with all kinds of skills and backgrounds.
Even if you’re not familiar with the extraction and supply side of things, there are job opportunities for other skill sets too. Don’t forget that natural gas companies run just like other companies and need managers, directors, and other corporate roles to succeed.
Since they provide so many jobs, we’re going to take a look at the largest natural gas companies.
We’ll give you a rundown of the main players and a little bit of information about how to find employment opportunities with them, no matter what professional experience or skills you bring to the table.
The World’s 12 Largest Natural Gas Companies
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Location: Irving, TX
Starting off is Exxon Mobil, which not only ranks as one of the biggest companies in the industry, but also as one of the biggest companies in the world. They produce the most natural gas in the U.S. and they far exceed their competitors in gas production.
In 2018, Exxon produced 9.97 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day and has only increased since.
As of 2019, they were valued at $311.96 billion. Exxon Mobil operates in Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming. They’ve created jobs for around 70,000 people in those areas.
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Location: London, England, UK
This multinational company had its start in England but has since expanded across the globe while conducting about 40% of its business in America. BP ranks as the fourth biggest company in the world and second biggest natural gas producer.
In 2018, BP was producing about 8.7 billion cubic feet of gas per day and in 2019, reported a worth of about $131.42 billion. They employ over 70,000 people with their locations across the globe and in Arkansas, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming.
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Location: Houston, TX
Lauded as the fifth largest private energy company in the world, ConocoPhillips is an American company that does business across the globe.
Since they split their company, ConocoPhillips focuses on the upstream side of things while Phillips 66 specializes in downstream operations. They’re still doing exceedingly well after dividing the company.
In 2018, they produced 2.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day and are valued at around $70 billion. Their 10,000 employees work across the world, but are heavily focused in Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
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Anadarko Petroleum
Location: The Woodlands, TX
As a successful company in its own right, before it was acquired by Occidental Petroleum, Anadarko was primarily a hydrocarbon exploration company. They are responsible for 2.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas production per day, as of 2017.
Also in 2017, they reported $10.969 billion in revenue and nearly 5,000 employees across their locations in Colorado, Texas, Utah, and Wyoming.
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Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Founded in 1989, Chesapeake Energy is a major player in the American natural gas industry. With more than 45,000 wells in the U.S., they produce 2.41 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day as of 2017.
Nearly 3,000 employees work across their wells in Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wyoming. In all, the company reported a worth of $9.5 billion in 2017.
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Location: Oklahoma City, OK
Ranked as number 297 on the SP 500, Devon Energy is an important private natural gas company. It mainly extracts gas from fields in Texas, but also has locations in Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.
From these fields, they were able to produce 327 thousand barrels of oil equivalent in 2019, making them a major player in the natural gas industry. Also as of 2019, Devon Energy had about 1,800 employees, with plenty of positions across their locations.
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Location: Denver, CO
Ovintiv, formerly named Encana, is a huge North American natural gas company. Formerly headquartered in Alberta, Canada, the company is a major competitor in North America. Currently, this gas company counts as the largest natural gas producer and energy provider in Canada.
In 2017, Ovintiv had a revenue of around $5.5 billion and also produced an average of 1,075 million cubic feet of natural gas per day for that entire year. They now have around 2,500 employees across their locations in North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah.
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Gazprom
Location: Moscow, Russia
One of the biggest names in natural gas is Gazprom. While they mainly operate in Russia, where they are the largest company in the country, their operations spread across the globe.
In 2019, their sales were worth $120 billion and the company ranked as the largest publicly-listed natural gas company in the world. In 2018, they averaged 35.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas produced each day, plus provided various other energy supplies throughout Russia.
They employ nearly 500,000 people across the world, including in the US.
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Royal Dutch Shell
Location: The Hague, Netherlands
One of the most recognizable natural gas and oil companies, Royal Dutch Shell is a multinational corporation with its roots in England and the Netherlands. In 2020, it ranked as the 5th largest company in the world by revenue and was named 21st on the Fortune Global 500 list.
As of 2014, Royal Dutch Shell produced 9.3 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day and had a market capitalization of $229.46 billion as of 2019.
While most of their operations are in the eastern hemisphere, about 17% of their reserves come from Pennsylvania and Texas in North America. This accounts for a significant portion of their 80,000 plus employees.
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Location: San Ramon, CA
Another easily recognizable natural gas and energy company is Chevron. As an American company, Chevron ranked 20th on the Fortune 500 list in 2020 with an annual revenue of $146.5 billion.
Though the company operates in over 180 countries, they’re an American company through and through with production sites in California, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia.
They employ about 45,000 people across all of their operations.
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Equinor
Location: Stavanger, Norway
This Norwegian multinational corporation has locations in over 30 countries, including the US. While they work in almost every type of energy, from gas to renewable energy, they are best known for their natural gas production. As a result of their efforts, they produce 4.2 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day.
Most of Equinor’s operations happen right in their home country of Norway, but they also have significant operations in North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and West Virginia. In all, they employ more than 21,000 people across their locations.
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Location: Paris, France
Total is one of the biggest energy producers in the world and has been for a long time. This French multinational corporation works in all sectors of energy, but natural gas makes up a large portion of their efforts.
In 2020, Total ranked 29th on the Forbes Global 500 list and reported revenues upwards of $200.316 billion in 2019. Their operations span the globe, but they have key refineries in Ohio and Texas. They also have many gas stations across the US and report 6,703 American employees in their ranks.
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Author
Amanda is a writer with experience in various industries, including travel, real estate, and career advice. After taking on internships and entry-level jobs, she is familiar with the job search process and landing that crucial first job. Included in her experience is work at an employer/intern matching startup where she marketed an intern database to employers and supported college interns looking for work experience.
