Oilprice.com (November 18)
“The real reason that Big Oil won’t raise production is a matter of simple economics. Keeping the supply tight is just too good for the bottom line…. In fact, according to figures from Deloitte LLP, oil explorers in the United States are making more money now than at any other point in the more-than decade-long history of the nation’s shale revolution.”
Tags: Big oil, Bottom line, Decade, Deloitte, Economics, Money, Production, Shale revolution, Supply, Tight, U.S.
CNBC (October 28)
In what may prove a seminal for Big Oil, activist Dan Loeb is “calling for the breakup of Royal Dutch Shell into a legacy oil and gas company and separate business for renewable energy.” The activists battle with Shell lies “at the heart of how an energy giant of the future shapes its business model during the energy transition and balances higher return fossil fuel projects with clean energy investment.”
Tags: Activist, Big oil, Breakup, Business model, Clean energy, Dan Loeb, Fossil fuel, Gas, Legacy, Oil, Renewable energy, Royal Dutch Shell, Transition
BloombergQuint (May 31)
“Wednesday was a bad day for Big Oil, or a good one, depending on your point of view. They’re going to have to clean up their acts a lot faster than they were planning. Three of the world’s biggest publicly traded oil and gas companies — Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, and Chevron Corp. — were dealt stinging blows on May 26 by shareholders and a Dutch court demanding that they act more quickly to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.”
Tags: Big oil, Chevron Corp., Clean-up, Dutch court, Emissions, Exxon Mobil Corp., Faster, GHG, Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Shareholders, Traded
New Yorker (May 26)
“Big Oil’s Bad, Bad Day.” On May 26, “crushing blows to three of the world’s largest oil companies… made it clear that the arguments many have been making for decades have sunk in at the highest levels.”
Financial Times (February 3)
“The pandemic’s devastating impact on Big Oil was illustrated yesterday when some of the world’s largest energy groups reported record annual losses, marking a brutal 12 months of an industry under mounting pressure to speed up a transition to cleaner fuels.”
Tags: Big oil, Brutal, Cleaner fuels, Devastating, Energy, Impact, Largest, Losses, Pandemic, Pressure, Record, Transition
The Economist (December 10)
“For the first time since oil prices plunged in 2014, Big Oil is putting its head above the parapet to seek substantial new sources of crude that will tide it through the 2020s.” While this signals renewed confidence, the players remain extremely cost conscious, with the aim of staying lean to maintain profitability even if oil stays stuck around $50 per barrel.
Tags: Big oil, Confidence, Cost conscious, Crude, Lean, Oil, Plunge, Prices, Profitability
The Economist (October 3)
“Shell’s retreat from the frozen north shows the new realities of ‘big oil.’” Shell announced its withdrawal from exploration in the Chukchi Sea where it had already invested $7 billion on a single exploratory well. “The decision boiled down to costs, financial and reputational. Most big oil firms face similar pressures” and appear likely postpone costly Arctic drilling.
Tags: Arctic drilling, Big oil, Chukchi Sea, Exploration, Reputation, Retreat, Shell