(Bloomberg) – Exxon Mobil Corp. sees tight global oil supplies putting upward pressure on energy prices for at least the next few years as the world continues to suffer from a lack of investment in fossil fuels.
“The industry is still recovering from the impact of the pandemic, and the lower levels of capital that have been going in across the industry to offset the depletion that’s been happening,” Chief Executive Officer Darren Woods said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “Supplies are fairly tight.”
OPEC and its allies have curtailed production this year while output is forecast to slow from U.S. shale in 2024, driven by the Permian basin. Elsewhere, there are few projects big enough to make up for the expected increase in oil demand this year and next year. With oil supplies unable to react quickly, prices will likely be set by demand, Woods said.
“It’s really a function of where does the global economy go, because for the next couple of years it’s going to take time to get additional capacity coming on,” he said.
The U.S. economy is in “reasonably good shape,” while China is having a “very slow emergence” from the pandemic, Woods said. Europe “is probably the most challenged” continent economically due to the loss of Russian gas, he said.
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