Big Oil Has Never Lost This Much Money

It ’s never been a defective time to be an oil colour caller . Even thebiggest ofBig Oil firmsare lessen aside like shoddily build McMansions on a darn of quicksand .

The latest to start to slide down is Exxon and Chevron , which each account their largest quarterly loss in account on Friday . This comes a solar day after news report emerged that Exxon is debate layoffs and other forms of cost - cutting whileensuring shareholder get paid . The stunning turnaround of fortune for some of the mankind ’s greatest climate villains is another sledgehammer blow to the hegemony of oil .

Exxon lost $ 1.1 billion in the second quarter this yr , according to itslatest investor report . Last yr over that same period , it immortalize a net of $ 3.1 billion . The companionship ’s top line reason for the departure is an increasingly familiar one : “ planetary oversupply and covid - related demand impacts . ” Those two factors were vividly illustrate this spring when record amounts of oil was beingstored in offshore tankersaround the world andair befoulment plummetedas people sheltered in place to avoid getting sick . Now , they ’re showing up clear as daylight in Exxon ’s account books .

Red ink is rising for Exxon and other Big Oil players.

Red ink is rising for Exxon and other Big Oil players.Photo: Richard Drew/Earther (AP)

All tell , the company has suffered $ 1.7 billion loss so far this year . Which really pales in equivalence to Chevron , which reported a $ 3 billion going , its orotund since 1989 . Bloombergcheerily labeleda graphical record chart it as an “ profit bloodletting . ” So yeah , that ’s where we ’re at .

The huge losses could n’t have happened to nicer companies . Both have spend decades being total numskull about the climate crisis , stall actionanddenigrating activistsas well as thevery goal of decarbonization . They ’ve been agitate a losing fight in late geezerhood , though . activist have successfully turned public opinionagainst Big Oil , and the finances of drill and selling a toxic substance have become a little more thought-provoking . Agrowingnumberofbankshave said they will no longer fund speculative forms of Arctic boring and with small vegetable oil company nowdefaulting on loansdue to the pandemic , it ’s possible the purse strings will pull even tighter .

Oil companies have been lead to scramble to find other uses for a intersection going out of style . Petrochemicals have been an arena gun and oil companies have expanded into sharply , and the plastic industry has sharply attempt to use the pandemic to its advantage . That includes pushing thebunk idea that plastic bags are more sanitaryin an effort to get states and cities to rove back or at least hold up bag ban . In its earnings command , Exxon said it would also look to take advantage on the pandemic by continuing a pivot to turn over sanitizer and make water moldable PPE . That ’s proficient and all since those are objectively helpful thing in a pandemic and will keep people utilise . While it may seem like the pandemic will never be under control thanks tofeckless federal leaders , though , do PPE and hand sanitizer are not a sustainable , long - terminus patronage scheme for a $ 177 billion company built on digging dodo fuels out of the ground to poison the satellite . Then again , going back to patronage as usual is n’t exactly sustainable either . fortuitously , there aresomeconcretestepsto a better way forward .

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