Quote:It’s never been a worse time to be an oil company. Even the biggest of Big Oil firms are falling apart like shoddily built McMansions on a patch of quicksand.

The latest to start to sink is Exxon and Chevron, which each reported their largest quarterly loss in history on Friday. This comes a day after reports emerged that Exxon is considering layoffs and other forms of cost-cutting while ensuring shareholders get paid. The stunning reversal of fortunes for some of the world’s greatest climate villains is another sledgehammer blow to the hegemony of oil.

Exxon lost $1.1 billion in the second quarter this year, according to its latest investor report. Last year over that same period, it recorded a profit of $3.1 billion. The company’s top line reason for the loss is an increasingly familiar one: “global oversupply and covid-related demand impacts.” Those two factors were vividly illustrated this spring when record amounts of oil was being stored in offshore tankers around the world and air pollution plummeted as people sheltered in place to avoid getting sick. Now, they’re showing up clear as day in Exxon’s accounting books.

All told, the company has suffered $1.7 billion losses so far this year. Which actually pales in comparison to Chevron, which reported a $3 billion loss, its largest since 1989. Bloomberg cheerily labeled a graph charting it as an “earnings bloodbath.” So yeah, that’s where we’re at.

(08-04-2020, 07:35 AM)mothered Wrote: The cost of gas has significantly dropped In my location to a 10-year low In 2020.

The oil Industry has made enough profit over the years, so this loss Is somewhat minimal.

(08-07-2020, 01:44 PM)Jiggly Wrote: I don't think this will be the end of those companies in any way. Especially as people are beginning to come out of lockdown and once vaccines are available... It may be business as usual. They will make a comeback.

(08-07-2020, 04:31 PM)mothered Wrote:

(08-07-2020, 01:44 PM)Jiggly Wrote: I don't think this will be the end of those companies in any way. Especially as people are beginning to come out of lockdown and once vaccines are available... It may be business as usual. They will make a comeback.

I certainly agree.

Those companies operate on a very large scale with billions of dollars to spare, so unless the COVID-19 situation lasts for a number of years, I believe they will stay afloat.

(08-07-2020, 09:48 PM)Jiggly Wrote: There's going to be massive demand when people are able to travel again as well.

(10-09-2020, 05:14 AM)darkone Wrote: Just lost my job in the Oil & Gas sector. Many of these companies are more worried about profit margins than their employees, and they did nothing to prep for an oil price drop, they just keep acquiring more debt and acting like the price could only go up. Many of these companies are filing for Chapter11 if they aren't sitting on a lot of cash.