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Health & Fitness

International Investing - Big Oil

The world is a big place – there are over 190 countries and 7 billion people in the world, which really boggles the mind if you sit down and think about it. In addition to being an interesting intellectual exercise, this fact can also have broad implications for your investments and your financial future. It is easy to stay focused on U.S. firms, news, and events during the day-to-day grind, but it is always important to be aware of your surroundings – especially when it comes to your investments. With that in mind, this series of articles will focus on countries and investment opportunities outside the United States that you might not usually hear about.

As always, be sure to consult a financial services professional familiar with both the potential investment and your unique financial situation before embarking on any investment program.

Big Oil

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This week, instead of focusing on a specific country, we will focus on an industry that touches virtually every aspect of the global economy.

The oil and natural gas industry, collectively known as Big Oil, is, for lack of better word, gigantic. With 2013 profits topping $90 billion, which works out to approximately $177,000 per minute, many of the industry leaders actually increased production for the first time in several years. Oil and natural gas firms constitute the backbone of virtually every transportation and electric utility in the world – automobiles, jet planes, and electric power plants all rely on oil and natural gas (to different extents). In recent years, however, this industry has changed significantly with the growth of natural gas fracking and other non-traditional oil production methods. These developments have rejuvenated both the Canadian and American oil & gas industries, punctuated by an announcement this morning by the CEO of Apache, which covered a large oil find right outside of Midland Texas.

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Last but not least, the rising tensions in Crimea have highlighted the importance of oil and natural gas in geo-politics. The dependence of Europe on Russian gas and oil hasve become a sticking point as the West has sought to bring tougher sanctions to bear on the Russian Federation.

Some of the largest and most well known oil/gas firms in the world are:

Exxon Mobil
Royal Dutch Shell
PetroChina
Chevron
Gazprom
BP
Petrobas
Total
Sinopec-China Petroleum
ENI

As always, I have attached some links with more information

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