The News
ExxonMobil plans to boost its oil production between now and 2030 to among the highest levels in the company’s history, despite signs of a glut in the global oil market.
The company plans to spend $27-29 billion in cash in 2025, about the same as it spent this year, as it pushes toward producing the equivalent of 5.4 million barrels of oil per day in 2030, up from 3.7 million in 2023. The company’s bullish new strategy is at odds with what most of its peers are doing as oil supply overtakes demand globally: Chevron said last week it plans to cut capital spending next year, and the OPEC+ group chose to extend production cuts in the interest of keeping prices buoyed.
Darren Woods, Exxon’s CEO, said in a call with reporters that the company has been tightly focused on driving down its production costs to remain profitable even with extremely low oil prices, a goal that got a big boost from operating efficiencies the company gained through its $60 billion acquisition of Pioneer Natural Resources this year.
Production targets could get adjusted if the market changes significantly over the next few years, Woods said, but “it’s much better to make a plans to make something happen, and then choose later and try to pull back, rather than not planning and then scrambling later.”