Nobody loves oil companies. Tesla Inc., the emblem of an emissions-free future, is worth more today than the top five Western supermajors combined.
Yet the world’s disdain for its petroleum giants could carry a sting in the tail -- a jarring price spike.
Oil may be on the way out, but it will be a long goodbye. Even if demand peaks, companies like Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc need to keep investing tens of billions of dollars every year into fossil fuels just to stand still. Right now, many investors would prefer to take that cash in dividends, or see it channeled into renewables.
“We have concerns about investment, particularly in light of the pandemic,” OPEC Secretary-General Mohammad Barkindo said at a virtual conference in Iran on Jan. 26. Starving the industry of capital today “could sow the seeds for extreme volatility down the road.”
No comments:
Post a Comment