QWhen it is moderate, Americans call it headwind, the headwind which forces us to tack in order to advance. When he is furious, it is the storm that sweeps away everything in his path. There is no point in moving forward, it is better to change the route. It is very important not to confuse them. Exxon, the American oil giant did not understand it, witnessed the spectacular snub it suffered on Wednesday, May 26. At its general meeting, a majority of shareholders voted for the appointment of climate activists to the board of directors. It is no longer Greenpeace that was working behind the scenes, but all of global finance, from BlackRock to CalPERS, which believes that Exxon must change fundamentally, before its value collapses.
This earthquake occurred the very day the Shell company suffered a stinging setback from the Dutch justice system, which intends to force it to strengthen its CO emission reduction targets.2. This will fuel the conversations of the major oil-producing countries meeting under OPEC + (with Russia) from Tuesday 1er June. For them, the woes of their Western partners bring both good and bad news.
Demand is picking up again, the majors are now restrained
The good news is that the criticism which falls on Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP and Total will force the five big world majors to revise downwards their forecasts of investment in research and production over the coming years, at the time. even where demand for oil and gas is picking up with the post-containment economic recovery. More radical even than American finance, the International Energy Agency even advises companies to stop, as of now, any new investment in fossil fuels if they want to respect the promises of the Paris agreement in terms of limitation. of global warming. Not really the Exxon project, which plans to invest $ 20 billion (16.3 billion euros) over five years in this area, against only three for emissions reduction.
Demand is picking up again, the majors are now restrained, as well as their producing countries such as the United States or Canada. Consequently, prices will continue to rise and it will be of great benefit to the national companies of Saudi Arabia, Nigeria or Russia, which represent more than half of the world market and are much less sensitive to criticism from finance and justice. Western.
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