No. of Recommendations: 32
I found this link to a Barron's article on "Drill,Baby,Drill". It was not behind a paywall when I clicked on a Google search link.
https://www.barrons.com/news/drill-baby-drill-trum...Like much of recent campaign rhetoric, I think this slogan was more driven by appealing to voters than by any careful thought. Motive seems to be to drive down oil prices, thus gasoline prices, and prey on voter economic concerns. Trump also promised the O&G executives to reduces their regulations if they would contribute $1 billion to his campaign.
The article pretty clearly lays out the risks and opportunities of such a policy. I think Aussie has it right - lower oil prices, less incentives for reducing carbon emissions. That's not what the industry seems to be seeking. And investors want dividends, buybacks, and capital gains. But these were not the voter targets.
Darren Woods, chief executive of ExxonMobil, said last week that industry investment is more influenced by its drive for profitability than regulatory questions. "I don't think the level of production in the US is being constrained by external restrictions," Woods said. "I think it is being driven by the internal discipline of the industry." And
"The problem is the capital markets," said Bill O'Grady of Confluence Investment Management. "Investors don't want them to do that (raise production) because they want to get paid."
Higher output could add to downward pressure on oil prices at a time when the strong dollar is also expected to weigh on the commodity.I won't rehash the article. I don't see the "drill,baby,dril" being good for OXY or the industry, or investors. In the long run, I think it's bad for the world.
Hopefully, a more well reasoned policy will prevail. I'm not an optimist.
