Oil giant Exxon Mobil says it will spend some of its record profits on over 20 new global projects in the next three years. The investments are expected to add one million oil-equivalent barrels a day to the company’s volumes at peak production.
CEO T-Rex Tillerson said the company’s capital spending would be about US$20 billion a year through the end of the decade. Tillerson said the company will continue to pursue projects in mature markets such as North America, Australia and the North Sea as well as growth regions such as the Middle East, Russia and West Africa.
Tillerson said discussions continue over the ownership stake of its Venezuelan operations and other aspects of the arrangements. “There’s a lot that has to be discussed with the Venezuelans yet,” he said.
Exxon Mobil faces great pressure form environmentalist groups as well as normal middle class Americans who find themselves paying lots more at the pump while corporations like Exxon make record profits. And they feel that this profit is not as legitimate as all other profits are in the capitalistic system. Maybe they’re right, maybe their criticism is not justified. I don’t really like to take a political stance on these issues and rather stick to the facts.
Fact: Oil is cheap.
Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous, but it’s cheap and the price is perfectly natural and not as artificial as some would like to believe. Compare the price of oil and the price of milk and milk has gone up much more in the same period. Oil is a commodity, and commodity prices have gone up. Why should oil be the only exception?
The current price, the trading range between 50 and 65 is purely the result of our own increased income.
By the way, I must say that I do find your site quite interesting and will keep an eye on it.
M. Tahmasebi, analyst for http://www.gulfeconomist.com