Even ExxonMobil is telling Trump to tone it down on fossil fuels

https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/exxonmobil-trump-climate-policy/

by chrisdh79

6 comments

  2. We are cooked if exxon is more rational on this topic than trump.

  3. We’re already producing more oil in the US than ever. If Trump keeps trying to boost the industry it could cause a glut and a price crash. Sophisticated firms like ExxonMobil can afford to find ways to comply with limits and regulations, while smaller dirtier competitors might get edged out.

  4. Well, yeah. If you’re an oil company, the way to play this game is to PRETEND you kind of care about climate change, while keeping your foot planted firmly on the brakes. That way, when the shit inevitably hits the fan, you can claim you were always concerned about climate change and further confuse and control the narrative. You don’t want people showing up with the receipts and hold you accountable.

    What Trump is doing is like if the NRA celebrated school shootings and offered black-Friday-style discounts every time a mass shooting makes it on the news.

    Also (as the article points out), the US constantly flip-flopping on climate change causes uncertainty and volatility in global energy markets, and that’s not good for shareholders’ profits, so it’s pissing those guys off too.

    tl;dr it’s not like Trump is too evil for the Exxon crowd, it’s that he’s not playing the game well and it’s making them nervous. Don’t let yourself think they grew a conscience or something.

  6. Exxon might be sort of evil but they sure aren’t dumb.

    More drilling means more infrastructure and assets that are at risk to the cyclical economy and energy prices. 2008/2009 is a great example of this. NG producers expanded rapidly in the mid 2000s then demand dried up post-GFC and many wells, pipelines, etc were abandoned because the operators went bankrupt. Unsustainable expansion of anything leads to ruin, always.

    No one is spending money to expand refining capacity right now because they know demand will slowly drop to zero as we move to a low carbon economy in the next 50 years. Even if politicians want them to drill or refine more, they can’t make them (under normal circumstances).

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