National oil company

A national oil company (NOC) is a petroleum company that is fully or partly owned by the government of a sovereign nation. NOCs produce about half the world’s oil and gas.

Due to their increasing dominance over global reserves, the importance of NOCs has risen dramatically in recent decades relative to International Oil Companies (IOCs), such as BP, ExxonMobil or Shell plc. NOCs are also increasingly investing outside their national borders.