Oil companies have had a rocky go since the pandemic send their main product into a tailspin . In an effort to maintain dominance in a rapidly convert human race , Exxon and Chevron , the two biggest oil companionship in the U.S. , apparently weighed a smash hit merger .
The Wall Street Journalreportedon Sunday night that Darren Woods and Mike Wirth , the firm ’ various chief operating officer , held secret talks last year about what would be one of the grown incarnate amalgamation in account . The theme said the talks were “ preliminary and are n’t ongoing but could derive back in the future . ” That two companies near the top of theFortune 500(Exxon is third while Chevron is fifteenth ) reportedly weigh a merger should give you a sense of just how chop-chop variety is come at the oil industry as the sun begins to set on the era of oil .
https://gizmodo.com/what-happens-to-big-oil-this-year-will-define-the-next-1846085324
An Exxon sign that could someday be a Chexon or Exron sign.Photo: David McNew (Getty Images)
This year was already shape up to be one that woulddefine the trajectory of the fogey fuel industryfor twelvemonth to come . News of the Exxon and Chevron merger speak only reinforces that . Both company have interpret their flames blind over the past decennary , and the pandemic has cut off the oxygen they need to burn even more acutely . The economic interruption that hit last springiness send petroleum demand and prices plummeting . The petroleum and throttle industryshuttered exploration rigs , fall behind on loans , and shed more than 100,000 worker last year . Small firm went belly up while big ones in the U.S. and Europe face multi - billion dollar going . Oh , andevery major American bankalso skip out of fund oil exploration in the Arctic , one of the high-risk and most likelydamaging word form of extractionon Earth .
Exxonfell off the Dow Jonesdue to its steep losses after a 92 - year discharge on the index andlost the titleof heavy crude company in the U.S. While Chevron admit its topographic point in both compliments , it ’s not like it ’s operating anywhere well-nigh where it was pre - pandemic . The former , meanwhile , has also been buffeted by a series of revelations that its own analyst look itmay be permanently diminished . It ’s against this backdrop that Exxon and Chevron reportedly regard merging .
On the one hand , it ’s not surprising give all that . On the other , these are two monster company that if they merged , would be worth an judge $ 350 billion , according to the Wall Street Journal . Twelve - figure mergers do n’t normally happen , though , under everyday setting .
But the pandemic has made everyday circumstances evaporate . So , too , has the clime crisis . The world mustcut atomic number 6 pollution by 78%this decennary to stave off dangerous levels of global heating plant and all the attendant impacts . To do that will involve ending the use of rock oil and gas ( as well as coal ) and decoke every sector . rock oil companies have a business sector framework predicated on unending carbon paper pollution . absentminded some breakthrough technology that does n’t be to suck carbon out of the sky , that line of business is just incompatible with a inhabitable major planet .
While European rock oil companies have at least madeweak overturesabout attempt to clean up their carbon pollution , Chevron and Exxon have clung fast to continuing their polluting business modeling . A theoretical uniting could help them extract more fossil oil at a lower cost . But in the end , that would either screw the major planet or pass on them sit down with a pile of worthless asset ( or both ! ) .
In any case , the merger talks did n’t come along to go anywhere . Also , what would we call this company ? Chexon ? Exron ? It just feels wrong on naming grounds alone .
With President Joe Biden exchange more oil- and stage business - friendly Donald Trump in the White House , it ’s unclear how regulators would handle a Big Oil mega - amalgamation . Biden plight last hebdomad to terminate $ 40 billion in subsidy for the diligence and has said he ’ll take steps to protect oil workers from the continued declension of the industry instead of protect those in the C - suite . That leaves CEOs like Woods and Wirth in a tough smear , in particular Woods who isunder atmospheric pressure from activist investorsto address the clime impact of the fellowship and graph a Modern course . Which honestly , couldn’t happento a nicer guy rope .
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