European oil & gas majors are in “a league of their own” in reshaping their business models for the energy transition while North American players are losing ground to Asian fossil groups, according to latest rankings from BloombergNEF.

Shell again topped a chart of 41 oil & gas companies compiled by the research group, which looked at a wide range of measures such as development of greener technologies, exposure to transition risk and investment levels in low-carbon activities.

TotalEnergies, Repsol, Galp and BP made up the rest of the top five of BNEF’s second annual Oil & Gas Transition scores, in which European groups took eight of the top 10 places.

But while Europeans confirmed their dominance since 2021’s debut rankings, the sole North American contenders from last time – Suncor and Chevron – were pushed out of the top 10 by Asia newcomers Eneos and PTT.

BloombergNEF noted that “oil & gas companies with a strong upstream exploration and production focus or uncompetitive downstream refining operations face higher transition risk exposure”.

BNEF OIL & Gas Transition rankings top 10 with score

1. Shell 8.99

2. TotalEnergies 7.54

3. Repsol 7.46

4. Galp 7.40

5. BP 7.16

6. Eni 6.93

7. Equinor 6.79

8. Eneos 6.56

9. Neste 6.15

10. PTT 5.96

Source: BNEF

Jonas Rooze, head of sustainability and climate research at BloombergNEF, said: “Oil and gas companies have been at the forefront of ESG investment debates. While many companies have announced net-zero targets, it’s critical to measure what actions they have taken and what risks they are still facing.”

Recharge has reported extensively on the burgeoning ambitions of Shell, TotalEnergies, BP and others in areas such as wind, solar and green hydrogen.

The energy transition has so far seen European majors make significant investments in US renewables such as PV and offshore wind, while domestic American oil & gas giants have been far more circumspect.