Chevron’s existing assets give the company a very different calculus than newcomers would face. But the timing could not be worse: Global crude oil prices have steadily declined over the last several years, recently dropping below $60 a barrel — approaching the break-even point for many American operators. That’s been driven by global supply surpluses and by weakening demand, as renewable energy prices drop. “I think what we’re seeing is that the days of the oil and gas industry being the growth engine of economies is well behind us,” said Trey Cowan, an oil and gas energy analyst at the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
It’s important to note - and this article does get into this further down - that right now US oil companies are showing very little interest in Trump’s plans in Venezuela. Basically the proposition here is that they spend billions of dollars on a bet that maybe a very pissed off Venezuelan government won’t kick them out in a few years, and maybe Donald Trump will still be alive and he or his cronies will still be in power in a few years, and maybe Trump won’t just give up on this whole scheme after five minutes have passed and maybe Columbian guerrillas and anti-US rebels in Venezuela won’t blow up their shit and… Yeah. It sucks. It’s a dumb, stupid deal. Business likes certainty and stability, and Trump offers none of that.
Hmm. If only some world leader would start shitcanning billions of dollars’ worth of clean energy projects…