1. Industry Overview
Uses and applications of various forms of oil can be traced back to thousands of years ago. However, the history of modern Oil and gas industry is not older than the last part of the 19th century. It was in when William smith found oil at the depth of sixty-nine feet during drilling operations (History.com). Soon many firms were created to explore various oil reserves. It became an important industry due to the importance of oil and gas for all other industries. Hundreds of firms have been formed, which drill, refine and distribute different petroleum products offered by this industry.

2. Industry Developments
Soon after its initiation, the oil and gas industry grew at an unbelievable rate. The annual volume of oil produced in the next 50 years (from 1859 to 1909) was multiplied by tens of hundreds of times. The industry also created hundreds of thousands of jobs in the United States, provided billions of dollars in terms of taxes and proved to be the provider of one of the most important commodity of the modern world. The industry generally continues to grow even after more than hundred years. Forbes has cited Investors Business Daily, “Employment is up 40% in the oil and gas fields since the recession began in late 2007” (Blackmon, 2014). Similarly, in the recent years, the growth rate of the Oil and Gas industry has also remained higher than the economy averages, both in terms of net income and revenue generation.

3. Competitive Landscape
According to the Bloomberg statistics, the whole industry generates annual revenue of $1.28T.The oil and Gas industry has traditionally been very concentrated one, with few major corporations controlling the whole industry. Today, there are many dozens of companies operating in this industry in the United States but few companies control a very big portion of the overall market. The following table shows a list of top firms in this industry, with respect to their market value.
RANK
COMPANY NAME $B 1
Exxon Mobil
356.5 2
Chevron
197.4 3
Conoco Phillips
76.7 4
Occidental Petroleum
56.3 5
Eog Resources
50.3

4. Consumer Market Data
The products of oil and gas industry are required in each part and city of the United States. Every adult is a potential customer of this industry. Other industries also rely on the petroleum industry to supply them necessary energy resources to run their machines and generators, among other things. Similarly, every adult and household requires these products on daily basis. There is no significant differentiation of the basis of gender, race or age (18+ usually). Hence, the consumer base is very vast and the number of consumers is in terms of hundreds of million, with every adult American being a potential consumer.