https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/climate/fossil-fuels-arent-going-
anywhere.html

Exxon�s $60 billion acquisition doubles down on oil and gas.

It wasn�t long ago that big fossil fuel companies were making bold claims
about their plans to embrace a low-carbon future. Yet over the past year,
many of those companies have walked back those commitments as they reaped
outsize profits and made ambitious plans to expand their production of oil
and gas.

On Wednesday, Exxon Mobil signed a $60 billion deal to buy Pioneer Natural
Resources, a company that made its fortune through fracking. The
acquisition � Exxon�s biggest in almost 25 years, and the biggest
corporate purchase of 2023 � represents a very expensive bet that fossil
fuels will remain a central part of the global economy for the foreseeable
future.

�As the world looks to transition and find lower sources of affordable
energy with lower emissions, fossil fuels oil and gas are going to
continue to play a role over time,� Exxon Mobil chief executive Darren
Woods told CNBC. �That may diminish with time. The rate of that is, I
think, not very clear at this stage. But it will be around for a long
time.�

Like it or not, Exxon�s bet looks like a sound one. While wind turbines
and solar panels are proliferating faster than many people realize, fossil
fuel extraction is also expanding around the globe. Hundreds of new oil
and gas projects have been approved in the past year.

In the United States, that includes headline-grabbing new projects like
the Willow development in Alaska and the Mountain Valley Pipeline in West
Virginia. In places like Qatar, Norway, Brazil, China and India, new oil,
gas and coal projects are getting approved practically every week. The
United Arab Emirates, which is hosting the United Nations climate
negotiations next month, has said it would keep producing oil �as long as
the market demands it.�

Supply and demand
Scientists say that nations must stop approving new oil drilling and coal
mining if the world has any hope of constraining global warming to
relatively safe levels. But without a dramatic shift by governments and
corporations around the world, the market will be demanding oil and gas
for years to come.

The International Energy Agency notes that for decades now, �the share of
fossil fuels in the global energy mix has been stubbornly high, at around
80 percent.� The I.E.A. sees the beginnings of gradual decline, but
estimates that fossil fuels will account for more than half of global
energy production 20 years from now.

Volatile geopolitics are routinely cited as justification for continued
fossil fuel production. Exxon reported a record profit of $56 billion last
year thanks largely to the price spike caused by Russia�s war in Ukraine.
That cash can now be used to invest in Pioneer�s shale oil fields in the
Permian Basin, where fracking has turned the United States into the
world�s biggest oil producer.

Even if fewer fossil fuels are used for energy production, the booming
petrochemical business could keep demand high. As my colleague Clifford
Krauss reported, Exxon is a petrochemical powerhouse. It needs more oil
and gas to turn into gasoline, diesel, plastics, liquefied natural gas,
chemicals and other products.

�Fossil fuels are not ready to leave,� said Jon Creyts, chief executive of
RMI, a nonprofit organization that supports clean energy. �And they�re
going to continue to operate with full capital market support here for a
while.�

�Bound to the returns�
Fossil fuel companies, including Exxon, are optimistic about the promise
of �advancements in technology� that could prevent carbon emissions from
reaching the atmosphere or remove them once they are in the air. Yet this
technology is currently prohibitively expensive, and while it might be
effective at a small scale, it wouldn�t be able to offset the enormous
volume of emissions on the horizon.

What�s more, there is no tax on carbon emissions, and no sign of the
political will needed to enact one. That means that governments have no
real way to financially penalize oil companies for their emissions.

Exxon is flush with cash and a record high stock price. But instead of
investing in clean energy, it is choosing to produce more oil and gas. The
ruthless logic of the marketplace is pushing Exxon and other big oil
companies to double down on fossil fuels instead of investing in green
technologies.

�They are absolutely bound to the returns,� Creyts said. �They�re bound to
perform relative to market expectations. And any attempt to create a
venture business that does not provide the returns that are expected as a
large company gets penalized.�

There will be grave implications for the planet, which has already warmed
by about 1.2 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels. This year is
shaping up to be the hottest on record, with record heat on land and the
ocean fueling extreme weather around the world.

The continued growth of emissions means that this warming trend is all but
certain to continue. �We need to be ready for a hotter planet,� Creyts
said. �We need to be ready for tipping points to be crossed.�

--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.

No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.

Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.

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>https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/12/climate/fossil-fuels-arent-going-
>anywhere.html
>

As long as there are Trumpers to douse in gasoline and set on fire, there
will always be a need for fossil fuels because electrocuting them with a
Tesla battery just isn't as much fun.