Please invest in Our Daily Planet today, by making a one time or monthly contribution.
We do not charge our readers a subscription fee for our content. We want to continue to grow our readership, particularly among millennials and public servants. Voluntary contributions from readers will help us employ interns and freelance journalists, expand our content, and reach a larger audience.
If you make a contribution of $150 or more, you will become an official “Friend of the Planet” and receive a Friend of the Planet T-shirt or water bottle.
Our Daily Planet is a daily morning email (M-F) to keep you informed of the stories shaping our environment. If these issues matter to you, we’d like to be the best ten minutes of your morning.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday (paywall) that Chevron and ExxonMobil, the two “descendants” of Standard Oil, held preliminary merger talks early in 2020. Apparently, the discussions did not continue past their initial phase, but they were serious enough that some of the possible terms were put in writing. The talks took place at a time when the industry was under increasing stress due to sharp declines in the price of oil. This week the ratings agency Standard & Poors (S&P) warned 13 large oil companies that they were at risk of having their credit risk rating downgraded from “intermediate” to “moderately high” due to the loss of demand for fossil fuels, poor profitability, and volatile prices.
Why This Matters: The handwriting is on the wall, and it is not hard to read. But it’s nothing personal — all oil and gas companies are high risk according to the S&P. These two companies may still wield some power due to their sheer size and overall market capitalization, but it’s declining as investors and creditors are beginning to bail. President Biden’s suspension of oil and gas permits on federal lands and waters did not help industry trends. With renewable energy’s share of the market continuing to increase, there is only one way for big oil fortunes to go — down. Oh, and we seriously doubt that Chevron and Exxon are ever getting back together.
Can Chevron and ExxonMobil Re-unite?
The two companies were separated on anti-trust grounds in 1911 when U.S. regulators re-shaped the entire oil and gas industry. The two companies combined would be worth more than $350 B, and they would together be the world’s second-largest oil company by market capitalization and production, with only Saudi Arabia’s state oil producer, Aramco, being bigger. But it is highly unlikely that in a Biden administration a merger like this would be possible. People familiar with the negotiation believe that both companies might regret having missed the opportunity to merge during the Trump administration, which would have been much more lenient in allowing it.
A Lower Grade
According to the S&P, the entire oil and gas industry is on the decline due to the move away from fossil fuels, poor profitability, and volatile prices. As a result, it warned Australia’s Woodside Petroleum as well as multinationals Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Imperial Oil, Royal Dutch Shell, Shell Energy North America, Canadian Natural Resources, ConocoPhillips and French group Total. The lower credit rating does have an impact beyond the bad PR. When their credit rating goes down, it is more expensive for companies to borrow money because they are seen as higher risk. This news follows immediately after the world’s biggest funds manager, BlackRock, said it might dump shares in big greenhouse gas emitters and redouble its efforts to keep the global temperature increase to 1.5C by 2050.
by Ashira Morris, ODP Staff Writer Right now, 95% of American public school buses run on diesel fuel, but that could soon change thanks to part of the Biden administration’s massive infrastructure proposal. The new Clean Buses for Kids Program would electrify at least 20% of the country’s iconic yellow school bus fleet. It would […]
by Amy Lupica, ODP Staff Writer In February, the governors of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware voted unanimously to ban fracking in the Delaware River Basin, but Republican-led lawsuits are seeking to stop this action. The ban prevented the natural gas industry from blasting up to 4,000 wells in the basin, serving a blow to the […]
Electric vehicles are an important part of meeting climate change action goals in addition to their potential to clean up air pollution, yet Americans have traditionally been apprehensive about purchasing them. That is until now. As Ben Geman wrote for Axios this week, “Even as gasoline-powered sales return from the pandemic, cars with plugs are […]
Subscribe to the email that top lawmakers, renowned scientists, and thousands of concerned citizens turn to each morning for the latest environmental news and analysis.
Want the lastest climate news summarized for you each morning?
Our Daily Planet is your daily dose of the stories shaping our world and the ways that you can take action. From the climate crisis to the protection of biodiversity, if these issues matter to you then please subscribe & stay informed!
Your privacy is Important! We promise never to use your email address to send you spam or advertisements.