Chevron winning while ExxonMobil slips


The past quarter has offered differing paths for two major international oil companies. ExxonMobil showed what is for them a rare earnings slip. A result made even more surprising by the fact that they were the only international oil producer to show a drop.


Meanwhile, Exxon’s rival Chevron, blew well ahead of even Wall Street’s expectations, posting a double-digit production increase. Shell and Statoil also showed good earnings.
The news is especially good for Chevron, and troubling for its competitors, because the company has been keeping a lid on profits in recent years, funneling a lot of its ready cash into expansion projects in both the Pacific and the Gulf of Mexico. The fact that the company has been able to continue generating solid profit gains in a flat market has a lot of people excited.
Not that one disappointing quarter has ExxonMobil panicking. The company plans to match Chevron step for step in expansion, especially in the Gulf of Mexico. Good news for investors, though the message may not play as well back home, with a nation – and a world – in transition on energy.
Most Americans know and understand the economy still runs on oil. From transportation to electric generation to plastics, Americans love petroleum based products. That said, there’s a generation coming up, that is very aware of oil pollution, and this generation, more than any before it, is actually pushing to see something done to stop pollution from fossil fuels.
While it may be premature to say Big Oil’s days are numbered, their popularity is certainly waning, and it’s not inconceivable that these companies will go the way of the Big Tobacco companies that fell from grace as Generation X came of age.
For Exxon, Chevron or any other oil company to stay competitive going forward, they will have to innovate and accelerate expansion of and investment into alternative energy sources. It will take time, and it might be a slow transition, but there will be a tipping point. Public opinion is shifting that fast. That’s not to say consumption is down all that much. After a brief hybrid blip in the mid to late 2000s, SUVs and bigger trucks are back. While some national political leaders are pushing for alternative transportation initiatives, Americans still love their cars, and that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon.

However, what is powering those cars may be changing. Forget increasing emissions and mileage standards, it’s Elon Musk’s Tesla that will really signal the sea change. With the release of the Model 3, Musk has proven a fully-electric vehicle really can be a family car. If the Model 3 is successful, the dominoes may begin falling very quickly, and oil companies will need to be prepared for a major shift in consumer appetite for fossil fuels.
Robert Gillings is an award winning writer, producer, actor architectural designer, philosopher and financial consultant.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

4 Tips for DIY Video Production

Image
Filmmaking has become much more accessible to individuals all over the world. With the advancement of digital camera technology, it is easier than ever to create a production company and make your own independent films. Here are four tips that will help you with all of your DIY video production projects. Invest in a DSLR camera   DSLR cameras are the easiest and cheapest way to get a professional film look for your video project. DSLR cameras will give you the ability to change lenses and create the wide and close shots that you want like the pros. You will be able to achieve a film-like shallow depth of field that creates emotion in your scenes like never before. The Panasonic GH5 is a great camera that will help you achieve a very professional look on a budget. A 35 mm lens and a 50 mm lens are great starters for getting the shots that you need for your film project Get the right lighting   LED lighting has transformed the affordability of professionally...
Read more

Verizon owns up to data leak compromising millions of customers

Image
Bad news for Verizon customers this month. Last week the telecom giant admitted that personal data belonging to about six million customers was “leaked” online. The issue was discovered by UpGuard, the same net security firm that found leaked voter data last month. In its initial report, UpGuard reportedly told Verizon the leak could affect up to 14 million customers, but later cut that estimate by more than half. The reason given for the leak? Human error, in the form of a “misconfigured security setting” on a cloud server. According to the report, the “leak” put customer names, contact information, and PIN codes up on the web. These PIN codes are not for credit or debit cards. They are used when customers call in to speak to a Verizon representative. That’s not to say those PINs do not put consumers in a vulnerable position. UpGuard’s Dan O’Sullivan, told CNN, “A scammer could receive a two-factor authentication message and potentially change it or alter [the authentication] t...
Read more