The oil and gas industry, riding the highest prices in nearly a decade, has its swagger back – again the indispensable player in a world desperate for energy. After years on the defensive as a fading industry that could no longer deliver for shareholders, the oil and gas sector is capitalizing on its advantage, showering investors with returns, pressing its policy agenda in Washington, andto significantly increase production to ease high prices.
Short term gains, indeed. For the third quarter, Houston independent oil company ConocoPhillips reported that profits surged 90 percent from a year earlier to $4.5 billion. Exxon Mobil had its best quarter ever – earning nearly $20 billion in three months – and said it distributed $8.2 billion to shareholders while spending $5.7 billion on long-term investments.
The shale boom changed that model. As investors pumped billions into new drilling projects requiring more technology and equipment, companies focused on growth and quickly ramping up production. But the bonanza investors and companies expected didn't materialize. This recent history has all but forced oil companies to focus on short-term profits and deliver them to shareholders as crude prices this year reached their highest levels in more than a decade. The strategy, however, is shaped by the future as well as the past.
, a nearly 27 percent increase from $595 billion in 2020, and nearly triple the $264 billion spent in 2011, according to Bloomberg data.13 percent of all new cars sold this year will be electric Most publicly traded oil and gas companies have committed to lowering emissions and developing technology to aid the energy transition. Nearly every company, however, expects to increase oil and gas production in coming years. Last year the industry invested around $10 billion in clean energy, according to the IEA,of capital investments. IEA expects it to grow to 5 percent this year.
Record profits... While everyone else in the country is dealing with inflation... And people who don't understand are blaming the pres for gas pieces, lol
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