Who is right about the future of oil? The International Energy Agency has predicted that global demand for oil, along with natural gas and coal, will peak this decade, in a historic turning point. US supermajors beg to differ. ExxonMobil’s purchase of shale producer Pioneer Natural Resources this month and Chevron’s deal this week to acquire Hess amount to the biggest consolidation in Big Oil for two decades. The tie-ups are a bet that the IEA’s vision of shrinking demand is wrong, or at least a bid to position these enlarged US giants among the last producers standing to meet the demand they believe will still exist by mid-century. In doubling down on oil, US groups are also widening the gap with European peers that have begun, tentatively, to embrace clean energy.
关于石油的未来，谁是正确的？国际能源署(IEA)预测，manbetx app苹果 对石油、天然气和煤炭的需求将在本十年见顶，这是一个历史性的转折点。美国石油巨头对此看法不同。埃克森美孚(ExxonMobil)本月收购页岩油生产商先锋自然资源(Pioneer Natural Resources)，以及雪佛龙(Chevron)本周收购赫斯(Hess)的交易，是大型石油公司20年来最大规模的整合。它们的联姻是在押注国际能源署关于需求萎缩的看法是错误的，或者至少是为了让这些规模增大的美国巨头跻身于最后屹立者之列，能够满足它们认为到本世纪中叶仍将存在的需求。在加大对石油的投资的同时，美国企业也扩大了与欧洲同行的差距，后者已试探性地开始拥抱清洁能源。