ONGC topples RIL to become highest ranked Indian energy firm

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) has edged past Reliance Industries to become the highest ranked Indian energy firm on this year's Platts Global 250 Rankings.

ONGC, which in 2013 was ranked 22nd, improved one position in this year's ranking that is led by global giants Exxon Mobil Corp, Chevron and Royal Dutch Shell. RIL, India's largest private firm, slipped from 19th rank in 2013 to 22nd in this year's ranking, according to Platts.

Indian Oil Corp, the nation's largest oil refiner and fuel marketing firm, made a huge jump to break into top 50 global energy firms club.

It has improved from 80th rank in 2013 to 43rd in this year's ranking that were released last evening. Coal India Ltd, the world's largest coal producer, slipped four places to settle at 47 in this year's ranking.

Power utility NTPC slipped one place to 50th this year. Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) made the biggest leap when it jumped from 119th rank last year to 66th in this year's edition.

Gas utility GAIL also improved its ranking from 105 to 97. Cairn India Ltd improved five positions to settle at 104th in the top-250 ranking where Oil India Ltd, the nation's second largest state explorer, and Essar Oil debuted at 208th and 232nd positions respectively.

"The Platts Top 250 Global Energy Company Rankings recognize outstanding accomplishments of the top performing energy companies around the world.

Each company listed in the Platts Top 250 has distinguished itself through its remarkable performance and the outstanding efforts and dedication of its team in the previous year," Platts said. It used four key metrics -- asset worth, revenues, profits, and return on invested capital, to assess the energy companies' financial performance.

Essar Oil has been ranked as the 16th fastest growing company in the world with a 27.9 per cent Compounded Growth Rate (CGR) in last three years.

Cairn India is 25th on the list with 22.2 per cent CGR.

GAIL is ranked 32nd with 20.5 per cent CGR on the list, which also has RIL at 46th position with 17.8 per cent CGR.

In 2013, Cairn was ranked the fastest growing energy firm in the world with a CGR of 121 per cent in the previous three years. No other Indian firm figured on that list.

"All companies on the (Global 250) list have assets greater than  $5 billion. The fundamental and market data comes from a database compiled and maintained by S&P Capital IQ, a business unit of McGraw Hill Financial," Platts said.