The majors' messy divide
Two gassy Europeans, two shale-obsessed Americans and one in between is too simplistic a division
It remains true that there are striking similarities between the five largest oil majors' strategies—focus on value over volume growth, lower production costs and high grading of portfolios through asset divestment, capital discipline and a commitment to shareholder value. But the shorthand for how to separate them may be less apposite. The received wisdom is that you can split the firms into the two firmly European majors, Shell and Total, which have bet significantly on LNG and got firmly on board with various energy transition technologies. The two US heavyweights, ExxonMobil and Chevron, have retrenched to international mega-projects and a domestic shale oil core. BP, with its British ro
Also in this section
2 May 2025
Fast-tracking US project approvals and increased trade pressures have already changed the LNG landscape since Trump came to office, with further transformation ahead
2 May 2025
Peru’s state-owned hydrocarbons agency has launched the search for new investors for Offshore Block Z-69, a high-potential asset in the prolific Talara Basin.
2 May 2025
The scars of the Russia crisis have accelerated Europe’s push to wean itself off gas dependence as the growing globalisation of LNG becomes a double-edged sword
1 May 2025
The NOC’s dire financial situation and maturing fields have left the authorities with little choice but to reduce crude expectations
