ExxonMobil is one of several American oil companies that reportedly experienced a “rough first half of 2023”, according to a June 24 article published under the name of former President of the high profile Texas Alliance of Energy Producers, Alex Mills. Titled “Oil and gas companies have rough first half of 2023,” the article asserts that “Inflation, supply chain issues, and attacks by politicians in the U.S. and Europe have resulted in a decline of investment capital from financial institutions and outside investors.”
“Out of the top eight oil and gas producing companies, six have had their stocks decline since Jan. 1. Chevron’s stock price has declined 12%, Conoco and EOG down 11%, Pioneer Natural Resources off 9%, ExxonMobil down 5%, and Oxy off 3%. All of these companies are headquartered in the U.S,” Mills writes in an Opinion piece published in the Wichita Falls, Texas-based Times Record News.
What is described as a “rough first half of 2023” experienced by the named companies is attributed to “Inflation, supply chain issues, and attacks by politicians in the U.S. and Europe,” circumstances which, the report said, resulted in “a decline of investment capital from financial institutions and outside investors.” The author made a point of stating that the two companies that had realized stock price appreciation during the first half of this year were both located in Europe. Those companies, Shell and BP, recorded increases in stock prices of 9% and 3%, respectively. “Crude oil prices are off 30% and natural gas prices are down 40% from a year ago” while the “drilling rig count in the U.S. is down 11% to 695, which has resulted in a decline in the companies that provide drilling rigs,” Mills says.
Contextually, Mills pointed to a recent Wall Street Journal report pointing to reduced drilling rig count resulting in shares in the four largest onshore drilling companies declining by 33% on average this year. The article also alludes to “recent news reports” asserting that ExxonMobil and Chevron, two US oil companies with huge investments in oil recovery and shipping operations in South America, are seeking to acquire even more exploration and production companies.
ExxonMobil’s oil recovery pursuits offshore Guyana, meanwhile, appear to be largely unaffected by some of the more challenging dynamics of the global oil and gas sector as a whole.
A few weeks ago, a media report in Georgetown quoted ExxonMobil Guyana President, Alistair Routledge, as saying that the company’s ramped up production notwithstanding, its local operations remained unaffected by what is known to be an existing shortage of the types of skilled labour needed in the sector. Routledge is also quoted as saying that the skilled labour shortage circumstance has had “no direct impact” on Exxon’s operations up to this time though he appeared to be speaking only for the present time and not for the company’s longer-term pursuits. Sections of the country’s business community including, most recent the accommodation and hospitality sectors, have been making public the challenges which those sectors face in competing’ with the oil and gas sector for non – oil related skills, particularly in the hospitality sector.
