ExxonMobil chairman offers oil market warnings

Darren Woods discussed the less-than-baby-smooth state of the oil industry at the Qatar Economic Forum on Tuesday.

Wood you agree?

A crumb of context: Some of the world’s biggest natural gas reserves are hanging out beneath the surface in Qatar’s North Field. ExxonMobil is one of several international partners funding the North Field’s expansion, with a 6.25% stake in the project. Good for business? Maybe. Vital for stabilizing oil markets? Absolutely.

When ExxonMobil’s partnership was announced, company chairman and Chief Exec Darren Woods spoke at the Qatar Economic Forum, voicing concerns about the state of global oil markets.

Darren said, “You are probably looking at three to five years of continued fairly tight markets. How that manifests itself in price will obviously be a big function of demand, which is difficult to predict.” He warned that companies should be following ExxonMobil’s lead and thinking long-term, explaining that if they failed to, we would see “a lot of volatility and discontinuity in the marketplace.” Oil prices burning a hole in your pocket? We wish we had better news for you, but the outlook just isn’t great.

Something’s gotta give

So, something has to give. Reps from the Middle East energy industry agree, with Chief Exec Shiekh Nawaf al-Sabah of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation ringing the alarm bell and calling out a “dangerous trend”. In his eyes, people want energy but don’t care about the specifics. They’re not prepared for the shift to green energy that needs to happen, like, yesterday.

Woods and ExxonMobil are hoping that this North Field project will go some way toward bringing “balance to the global market,” which has been disrupted by everything from COVID-19 to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Still, there’s 100% going to be some turbulence ahead. Seatbelt lights on, folks.