Thailand’s leading oil and gas producer, wholesaler and retailer is PTT, which holds significant shares in a number of large companies in the sector, including E&P entity PTTEP, which is the major player in the country’s upstream operations, alongside US giant Chevron. The midstream segment is dominated by PTT, while in the downstream segment there are a larger number of companies, especially in the consumer fuel business, where a number of foreign players compete with the local ones.

Russia started a privatisation programme for the oil sector in the 1990s, but the drive was reversed in the early 2000s when the government nationalised several companies. Currently the Russian oil and gas sector is dominated by local companies, which are predominantly controlled by the state. As of March 2018 there were 1,700 registered enterprises, operating in the segment of extraction of crude petroleum and natural gas, and about 1,500 companies operating in the segment of petroleum products. In 2017, more than 80% of Russian oil companies were vertically integrated and about 14% of natural gas companies fell within this category.

The Russian insurance market is dominated by private companies. The number of market players has fallen sharply since the beginning of the decade as a result of increased M&A activity and stricter capital requirements that forced smaller and inefficient insurers out of business. The market was home to 226 insurers at the end of 2017, down by 12% y/y. In 2016, the licences of 75 insurance companies were revoked and 24 other were shuttered as part of a financial market clean-up process initiated by the Central Bank. As a result, the market concentration has increased with the top 20 insurance companies, both life and non-life, expanding their share in the overall insurance premium income from 71.2% in 2011 to 79.8% in 2017. Among the Russian insurers, 27 companies have an authorized capital of more than RUB 1bn each, of which only four insurance companies have an authorized capital exceeding RUB 10bn.

The passenger car segment of the automotive market is highly competitive with many international players present. The CV segment is less competitive with several brands, predominantly local, absorbing the majority of sales. As the automotive sector emerges from the crisis, local brands lose market share at the expense of foreign ones with established local manufacturing plants. This is observed on both the PC and the truck segments.

The insurance sector in Romania is highly concentrated. The top ten non-life insurers generated 96.6% of the total gross written premiums in the subsector in 2017, while the top ten life insurers had a share of 95.2%. There were 42 insurance companies (including branches of foreign companies) active on the market at end-2017. Of them 25 were involved only in non-life insurance and 11 only in life insurance, with the remaining six active in both segments. The insurance market is dominated by international groups.

Competition in the transportation sector varies between segments, with rail being the most concentrated and competition being the highest in road transport. Given the strong position of stateowned incumbents in the rail and air modes, the highly fragmented road subsector is the most attractive one for foreign investors. Road is the preferred mode of transport for cargo in Poland, accounting for 85% of freight shipment volume in 2017, followed by rail with over 11%. In the passenger transport segment, the competition between road and rail is more evenly matched, with the former accounting for 54.4% and the latter for 43.5% of the total number of people carried.

The level of competition in the pharma and healthcare sector varies across segments. A relatively high degree of competition is observed in the pharmaceutical manufacturing, with 795 active companies as of March 2018, of which 13% large enterprises with more than 250 employees. On the other hand, as of the same month, there were 93,313 pharmacies in Mexico. Yet, the pharmaceutical retail exhibits a moderate degree of competition, as five medium-sized chains accounted for 54.4% of the drug retail sales in 2017. The health insurance in Mexico is virtually monopolised by the government, with only a small private health insurance system offering some choice for consumers.

Up to 2014, the oil and gas sector in Mexico was wholly controlled by PEMEX. The lack of competitive incentives stalled investment, causing a continued decline in production and reserves since the beginning of the 2000s. From 2000 to 2013 crude oil production fell by 16.8%, which had major implications on earnings for the federal government and led to higher hydrocarbon imports. To counter these trends, in 2013 the country enacted the energy reform, a constitutional amendment that completely overhauled the regulatory framework of the sector, opening it to private participation and foreign investment. Five years on from the reform, private ownership is still at an incipient stage even though more than 100 exploration and production contracts have been awarded to local and international private players through three tenders, comprising a total of eight bidding sessions starting in 2015. Some of the awardees have made important discoveries since, but few have started commercial operations and it is hard to determine when they will begin to make a difference in total production. Furthermore, the sector’s future under Mexico’s new president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, remains unclear. Some members of his cabinet have been critical of the 2013 energy reform, calling upon the government to revise the awarded contracts, whilst promising to respect the awarded contracts if no unlawfulness is found, and even promote more bidding rounds.

Petronas is entrusted with exclusive ownership over Malaysia’s oil and gas resources by virtue of the Petroleum Development Act 1974 . The upstream activities are carried out through either PSCs or RSCs with other upstream companies. In the midstream segment, Petronas dominates the pipeline transmission, but competes against other shipping operators in the tanker business. As for downstream, Petronas is a major player in petrochemicals, but is a less formidable competitor in the consumer fuel business.

Malaysia has a diverse banking sector where strong domestic players have a larger share of the market than international banks. Malaysia operates a dual banking system where conventional banking operations exist side-by-side with sharia -compliant Islamic banks. Although the commercial banks are the most significant players in the broader financial services sector, the banks also compete with NBFIs particularly in providing loans to consumers, while development financial institutions (“DFIs”) account for loans to specific segments of the economy such as SMEs or agricultural producers. The banking system in Malaysia is generally robust and well-capitalised, and the liquidity and capital adequacy ratios of Malaysian banks exceed the minimum requirements set by BNM, the central bank.