In a new Industry Report Audit Integrity takes a look at how responsibly and transparently oil and gas companies are dealing with volatility and risk.
With profits being driven primarily by rising oil prices, a sustained and significant fall in oil prices would hurt most exploration and production companies, the report says.
Among the top five oil companies, declines in production volumes of oil and gas are being reported, which is following a decade of underinvestment in the 1990s while plowing profits into stock buybacks. A shrinking influence globally is evident with their struggle against foreign state-owned oil companies, which is further undermining their ability to increase production.
The report also addresses the prospects for natural gas producers, drillers and refiners.
Audit Integrity believes governance and high-risk events, have verifiable value in differentiation between the relative risks of companies.
Companies which are forthcoming to their stakeholders will consistently have full and accurate disclosure of their financial position, with proper accounting treatment and governance practices, and are able to produce positive returns. In contrast, companies which have misled stakeholders with obfuscation and aggressive accounting and corporate governance are putting investors at substantial risk, and can result in negative returns.
For 1-year returns, companies in the top-ranked Conservative AGR and Equity Factor 5 category have been 23.8%. Companies in the bottom-ranked Very Aggressive AGR and Equity Factor 1 categories have been -13.0%.
Much of the gain in the top-ranked category came from Concho Resources (NYSE: CXO), which was up 152%. Five of the seven bottom-ranked companies registered declines, led by Cheniere Energy (NYSE: LNG) at almost -90%.
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