Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state oil company, has...

Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state oil company, has surpassed Exxon Corp. and Royal Dutch/Shell Group to become the world’s largest oil company, the oil journal Petroleum Intelligence Weekly said. In a survey of 50 oil companies, Saudi Aramco--recently created through the merger of the kingdom’s Aramco and Petromin--was ranked first on a combined basis of several factors, including oil and gas production, reserves, refining capacity and petroleum product sales during 1987. Shell ranks second, followed by Exxon. Aramco was first in oil output, followed by the state-owned firms of Mexico, Iran and Iraq.