Thread regarding ExxonMobil Corp. layoffs

Chevron exec says company ‘more wait-and-see’ on IRA-related investments
Chief financial officer Eimear Bonner tells a Piper Sandler conference uncertainty around the climate for renewables means the energy giant will remain disciplined with its spending.
Geert De Lombaerde

The chief financial officer of Chevron Corp., Houston, said Mar. 18 that the energy giant is shifting to a “more wait-and-see” stance on investing in renewable fuels following recent actions and remarks from members of the Trump administration.

Speaking to the Piper Sandler 25th Annual Energy Conference in Las Vegas, Eimear Bonner said Chevron executives are looking to get a better understanding of what the Trump team’s recent moves could mean for elements of the Inflation Reduction Act that cover renewable energy. Administration members have talked about freezing funding for projects already approved and axing tax credits designed to stimulate renewables investments.

Chevron’s New Energies division houses several projects focused on markets in the crosshairs of such potential actions. The company is the majority owner of ACES Delta LLC, a joint venture that is developing a project in Utah that will produce hydrogen from water and renewable power and store it in two salt caverns, from where it can be called upon to generate power via gas turbines. Plans call for production to start later this year. The operator also is, among other things, building an oilseed processing plant in Louisiana with joint venture partner Bunge Ltd.

Some work on these initiatives is, along with work on lowering Chevron’s carbon intensity, part of $1.5 billion in capital allotted this year to Chevron's upstream and downstream businesses. Chevron's total 2025 capex is guided at $14.5-15.5 billion (OGJ Online, Feb. 3, 2025).

More broadly, Chevron has spent $7.7 billion on lower-carbon investments since 2021, a figure that includes $2.9 billion associated with the acquisition of diesel-focused Renewable Energy Group Inc. (OGJ Online, June 13, 2022).

How much more money will flow to these types of projects in the near term is uncertain. At a minimum, Chevron won’t soon be stepping up its investment pace.

“Fortunately, we haven’t deployed a lot of capital in these projects,” Bonner told the Piper audience. “We haven’t invested in projects that rely a lot on the [tax] credits. And so for that one, it’s more wait-and-see. We’ll continue to be disciplined in light of the uncertainty there.”

During her appearance at the Piper gathering, Bonner also said she expects that one of the Trump administration’s other priorities—tariffs—won’t have a material impact on Chevron’s operations or results. Less than 10% of the company’s refinery feedstocks come from Canada or Mexico, she said, and its drilling and completion teams mostly use American-made steel pipes in their work.

Shares of Chevron (Ticker: CVX) were changing hands around $162.70 in morning trading Mar. 19, up more than 1% from their previous close. Over the past 6 months, they have risen about 12%, growing the company’s market capitalization to about $286 billion.

https://www.ogj.com/general-interest/companies/article/55275781/chevron-exec-says-company-more-wait-and-see-on-ira-related-investments

@aj+1jmqvkzjn

sure but the analogy breaks down with offershoring because no craftsman sells their expensive tools to buy mediocre but good enough ones

Oil major BP boosts annual fossil fuel spending to $10 billion in strategy reset
Story by Sam Meredith

BP on Wednesday announced plans to increase annual oil and gas investment to $10 billion through 2027 as part of a fundamental strategic reset.

The beleaguered energy giant also said it planned to lower its annual capital expenditure to sit within a range between $13 and $15 billion over the same time horizon, while targeting $20 billion in divestments by the end of 2027.

BP is poised to outline further details of its new direction at its Capital Markets Update on Wednesday afternoon.

British oil major BP on Wednesday announced plans to increase annual oil and gas investment to $10 billion through 2027 as part of a fundamental strategic reset.

The beleaguered energy giant also said it planned to lower its annual capital expenditure to sit within a range of $13 and $15 billion over the same time horizon, while targeting $20 billion in divestments by the end of 2027.

"Today we have fundamentally reset bp's strategy," BP CEO Murray Auchincloss said in a statement.

"We are reducing and reallocating capital expenditure to our highest-returning businesses to drive growth, and relentlessly pursuing performance improvements and cost efficiency. This is all in service of sustainably growing cash flow and returns," he added.

The oil major said investment in transition businesses would be "significantly lower" over the coming years.The firm said spending is now likely to come in at an annual $1.5 billion to $2 billion per year — more than $5 billion per year below the previous guidance.

BP is poised to outline further details of its new direction at its Capital Markets Update on Wednesday afternoon.

An investor day presentation, which will be hosted by Auchnicloss and other members of the firm's leadership team, is scheduled to take place from 1 p.m. London time.

Analysts have described BP's investor day as a pivotal moment for the firm, particularly after it emerged that activist investor Elliot Management had built a stake in the oil major.

BP's Auchnicloss, who took the helm on a permanent basis in January last year, is under significant pressure to reassure investors that the company is on the right track to improve in its financial performance.

The London-listed firm has lagged its industry rivals in recent years, as investors have continued to question the firm's strategic direction.

Shares of BP fell 1.5% on Wednesday morning.

'Shocking but not surprising'
Lindsey Stewart, director of investment stewardship and policy at Morningstar Sustainalytics, said Wednesday that BP's decision to reduce capital expenditure on renewables and double down on its fossil fuel assets "will be shocking but not surprising to investors focused on sustainability."

He added that "having already cut back its energy transition targets in 2023, BP's subsequent underperformance compared with peers has created pressure for BP management to focus on sustainability of a financial rather than ecological nature."

Reuters on Monday reported that BP is poised to abandon its target to increase renewable generation 20-fold by 2030, citing two unnamed sources close to the matter. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment when contacted by CNBC.

Five years ago, BP became one of the first energy giants to announce plans to cut emissions to net zero "by 2050 or sooner." As part of this push, BP pledged to slash emissions by up to 40% by 2030 and to ramp up investment in renewables projects.

The company scaled back this emissions target to 20% to 30% in February 2023, saying at the time that it needed to keep investing in oil and gas to meet global demand.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/oil-major-bp-boosts-annual-fossil-fuel-spending-to-10-billion-in-strategy-reset

@nq+1jmqvkzjn

At best, Fawley will be a terminal by the end of 2026. It has no petrochemical integration.

Rotterdam and Antwerp are the EU "crown jewels".

Fawley is the crown jewel

We will be less than 50,000 ExxonMobil employees by the end of December 2026.

Fawley, Port Jerome, Gravenchon, FOS, and Joliet refineries and a few JV's will also be divested by the end of December 2026.

Our ROCE is going to drop in 2025 since the Hydrogen Hub in Baytown, Off Shore Carbon Capture and Storage, and the Smackover Lithium Extraction Platforms are "ON THE ROCKS" since President Trump is cancelling all US Federal Government subsidies.

Without subsidies, the ROI or ROCE for each of these Sustainability Platforms is in single digits and our minimum ROCE is 15%

Our target ROCE has historically been 15%. More staff reductions will need to occur to move from 12.7% to 15% in 2025.

Since we have hired 3000 "new" employees at the Bangalore Technical Center in India in the last 24 months, we have effectively reduced our regular employee headcount in HC10 countries to 57,000 employees at the end of 2024.

ExxonMobil’s Technology Center in Bengaluru is a vital hub of technical support to the Company’s global Upstream, Product Solutions and Low Carbon Solutions businesses.

Just keep working until you find a new job. There’s no point in complaining—this corporation exists to serve its shareholders, and we’re merely tools for generating profit. When a tool becomes obsolete or breaks down, it gets replaced.