By Richard Krijgsman, CEO of Evaluate Energy

The analysis, undertaken by Evaluate Energy, calculated a consensus country risk weighted by oil and gas production by country for both 2000 and 2013. Country risk in each country was estimated by Evaluate Energy based on a consensus of country risk ratings published by Fitch, S&P, Moody's, Institutional Investor and the OECD. The Evaluate Energy methodology translates and standardizes each of the rating agency's particular ratings to numbers 1 through 7, where 1 is "less risky" and 7 is "very risky."

Source: Evaluate Energy

ENI has one of the highest country risk appetites, and this has increased in the last decade as the company expanded production in Libya, Algeria, Angola, the Congo, Nigeria and Kazakhstan while its relatively "low risk" European production declined.

Total's relatively high country risk profile stems from its focus on African production, and its European production has also declined over the period. Petrobras' risk profile has fallen in the last decade as the financial markets began to take a rosier view of the risks attached to doing business in Brazil.

BP increased its country risk exposure noticeably since 2000, albeit from much lower levels, as its European and North American production declined and as it boosted output in Azerbaijan and Trinidad and Tobago. In fact, the company's risk profile is probably even higher if its stake in Rosneft is taken into account.

Apache's risk profile increased significantly due to the ramp-up in Egyptian output over the period.

Other companies with much lower risk profiles include ExxonMobil, Devon, ConocoPhillips and Anadarko. ExxonMobil, to take one example, has 86% of its oil and gas production sourced from what the rating agencies consider the "lower risk" OECD countries.

Away from location-related risk, the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has recently conducted its own company analysis focused on increasing debt -- using Evaluate Energy data -- and concluded the gap between cash from operations and the main uses of cash for 127 of the world's major oil and gas companies has widened from a low of $18 billion in 2010 to $100 billion to $120 billion during the past three years.

This report was completed using the Evaluate Energy database, which holds 20+ years of financial and operating data for the world's biggest and most important oil and gas companies.