Darren Woods has had a surprisingly good four years. On Wednesday, Exxon Mobil’s chief executive scored a victory at the oil driller’s annual meeting, and clinched re-election. Weeks earlier he closed his takeover of rival Pioneer Natural Resources. And Exxon’s valuation has soared as oil and gas exports hit a record. All of this under a U.S. president who pledged to fight climate change. As Biden was taking office, Exxon was on shaky ground. The company’s stock price had plummeted more than 40% during Donald Trump’s presidency. Shareholders fretted over how Exxon would prosper in a world transitioning from dirty

Chesapeake Energy is the latest to join the fossil-fuel merger rush, and has the benefit of safety in numbers. That’s true in two ways: first, because its $7.4 billion purchase of Southwestern Energy is financially attractive for Chesapeake shareholders, and secondly because Boss Nick Dell’Osso is treading an M&A path that rivals like Exxon Mobil and Chevron have already beaten. The merger announced on Thursday – inspired by Dell’Osso’s own admission by the fact neither firm has much growth potential in an energy-soaked market – has something for both sides. The combination would be one of the biggest U.S. gas producers but,

Investment bankers ordered back to the office in 2023 could just as easily have twiddled their thumbs at home. In 2024, however, they should be able to start accumulating frequent-flyer miles again, as a growing list of deals sketched on paper finally get put into action. The slowdown in M&A activity has darkened the mood of usually chipper financial advisers. Even mega-mergers unveiled by oil giants Exxon Mobil and Chevron in the fourth quarter, worth a combined $113 billion, haven’t boosted spirits much. Globally, companies notched $2.6 trillion of deals by the end of November, putting volume on track for the lowest full-year total

Exxon Mobil and Chevron may be facing government backlash for the profit that they have booked in the past year. But shareholders will be nothing but grateful. On Tuesday, Texas-based Exxon smashed a record for the most profit ever. With hardly any debt left to pay down – and investments in new projects reined in – the cash will go to investors. The $460 billion firm said on Tuesday that it earned $13 billion in the fourth quarter, while Chevron said last week it earned over $6 billion. Both companies are holding true to promises that investment in new projects will be

As the world braces for a seemingly inevitable recession, commodities have taken a hit. The prices of oil, copper and iron ore are all sharply down from their peaks earlier this year. That’s not surprising, as demand for raw materials tends to move up and down with economic activity. But another factor is the capital cycle: the amount of investment entering or exiting an industry. Given the severe lack of money that has flowed into conventional energy and raw materials in recent years, it’s possible that commodities will deliver positive returns even as the economy contracts. Despite the energy crisis

Oil’s last hurrah wouldn’t be complete without Harold Hamm planting his flag on some of its mounds of cash. The shale pioneer wants to buy the remaining 17% of Continental Resources his family doesn’t already own, valuing the entire firm at some $25 billion. The small premium – and outlook for oil prices in the medium term – means he can be a huge beneficiary of wells pumping cash as fossil fuels’ future wanes. Companies like Continental, that slice through rock with sand and water to squeeze out oil and gas, have come into the firing line from investors who want

Big Oil is playing the unusual role of kingmaker at the U.S. Federal Reserve. The energy sector has come out swinging against Sarah Bloom Raskin, President Joe Biden’s pick to lead supervision at the U.S. central bank – and its objections found full voice at a Senate hearing on Thursday. Raskin is qualified to be vice chair for supervision. She served as the No. 2 in the Treasury during the Barack Obama administration, and worked with the financial industry to shore up firms’ cyber defenses amid a spate of hacks. Earlier, as a governor at the Federal Reserve, Raskin focused on

KKR is best known for leveraged buyouts, but Henry Kravis’s asset management firm’s latest deal flips the script. It will list oil and gas firm Independence Energy by merging it with publicly traded Contango Oil and Gas. The latter’s shareholders will cede control while the chairman keeps his job, exchanging highly valued paper for assets on the cheap. It is a twist that might put Contango shareholders on guard. The oil and gas drillers said on Tuesday that they will combine, though in effect it looks to be a takeover by KKR’s firm, sans premium. Some $20 million of synergies

Credit markets, unlike the global economy, are already out of their virus lockdown. BP’s $12 billion issuance of bonds that count as equity shows that investors’ hunger for esoteric securities is alive and well. There’s little choice when central banks are flooding markets with liquidity. BP’s first sale of hybrid debt looks neatly timed. The securities are like bonds, in that they pay interest, but rank below ordinary debt, and allow coupons to be deferred. That means rating agencies can treat them as partial equity in their models, and they can lower reported gearing levels. On Monday Chief Executive Bernard

Hundreds of U.S. oil drillers may soon be getting a bailout from Uncle Sam. But major player Chevron looks more like a buyer than a pleader. Sure, the $170 billion oil giant has been whacked by the rout in the price for black gold, too, as first-quarter results due on Friday are likely to show. But it’s in better shape than not just smaller industry firms, but Exxon Mobil, too. For starters shareholders appear to have more faith in Chevron: Its market capitalization has halved the gap with Exxon’s over the past two years, and its stock has fallen by

Bernard Looney is putting on a brave face. Days after Norwegian peer Equinor slashed its first-quarter dividend by two-thirds, BP’s chief executive announced he will distribute $10.50 per share to investors, unchanged from the previous quarter. The $79 billion UK oil major’s sangfroid is impressive for a three-month period in which the price of a barrel of Brent crude fell from $70 to less than $25. It may not last. On the face of it, Looney should be conserving cash. Multiply BP’s $952 million of first-quarter operating cash flow by four, knock off $12 billion of capital expenditure, and the

Schlumberger has sent a new message about the role of dividends: Cutting them is the new shareholder-value trade. The oil-services company’s stock surged as much as 8% in early trading on Friday after it cut its payout by 75%. Granted, the optimism is because the move shores up the balance sheet. It’s smart for the likes of Schlumberger that are at the epicenter of troubles brought on by the global pandemic. And is one executives in other industries would do well to follow. Schlumberger and Halliburton are the literal picks and shovels of the oil business, providing companies like Exxon