Shell remains the world’s most valuable Oil & Gas brand despite experiencing a 3% brand value reduction, taking its brand value to US$48.2 billion. This is the ninth consecutive year that the British multinational Oil & Gas brand has held the top spot, however, Saudi Arabian Oil and Gas giant, Aramco (brand value up 4% to US$45.2 billion) has reduced the gap at the top.
Every year, leading brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance puts 5,000 of the biggest brands to the test, and publishes over 100 reports, ranking brands across all sectors and countries. The world’s top 50 most valuable and strongest brands in the Oil & Gas industry are included in the annual Brand Finance Oil & Gas 50 2023 ranking.
Savio D’Souza, Valuation Director, Brand Finance, commented:
“The Oil & Gas industry had a record year in terms of profits and cash flow driven by the recovery from the pandemic and geopolitical uncertainty. Geopolitics and economic uncertainty is likely to play a big role in the year ahead too. The challenge for Oil & Gas Brands will be to optimise their brand and business positioning for the Global Energy Transition while balancing their responsibility to provide affordable energy to the world.”
In addition to calculating brand value, Brand Finance also determines the relative strength of brands through a balanced scorecard of metrics evaluating marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance. Compliant with ISO 20671, Brand Finance’s assessment of stakeholder equity incorporates original market research data from over 150,000 respondents in 38 countries and across 31 sectors.
PETRONAS (brand value down 7% to US$12.7 billion) is again the strongest Oil & Gas brand, a title it has held since 2020. In 2023 its Brand Strength Index (BSI) score went up two points to 89 out of 100, earning a corresponding AAA rating. This high BSI score comes partly as a result of its commitment to the industry wide energy transition, as it looks to diversify its range of energy options and significantly improve its company-wide sustainability. PETRONAS has committed to allocating 20% of its overall capital expenditure for decarbonisation projects and cleaner energy solutions from 2023 to 2026.
Qatargas (brand value up 147% to US$3.1 billion) is the world’s fastest growing Oil & Gas brand, as well as the fastest growing brand across all sectors in the Middle East in 2023. It is one of the world’s leading gas producing brands and is owned by QatarEnergy. This year, it has seen significant growth due to the increase in global demand for its product following the embargo of Russian gas by many countries. It has also benefited from the FIFA Football World Cup which took place in Qatar, for which Qatargas was an Official Sponsor. This has increased its brand awareness outside of its home market and helped boost its BSI score 5 points to 71 out of 100, with a corresponding AA rating.
As part of its analysis, Brand Finance assesses the role that specific brand attributes play in driving overall brand value. One such attribute, growing rapidly in its significance, is sustainability. Brand Finance assesses how sustainable specific brands are perceived to be, represented by a ‘Sustainability Perceptions Score’. The value that is linked to sustainability perceptions, the ‘Sustainability Perceptions Value’, is then calculated for each brand.
Brand Finance’s research identified Aramco as having the highest Sustainability Perceptions Value of any Oil & Gas brand in the ranking - US$4.5 billion. The brand’s position at the top of the Sustainability Perceptions Value table is not an assessment of its overall sustainability performance, but rather indicates how much brand value the brand has tied up in sustainability perceptions. Aramco therefore has the most value at risk in relation to sustainability. Aramco also had a strong Sustainability Perceptions Score of 5.2 out of 10, which it is taking positive steps to protect.