Silke Jasso
In due course with a global trend, U.S. oil prices fell by more than five percent on Wednesday.
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Ahead of the drop, Houston kicked off the annual CERAWeek oil industry conference Monday, where Exxon’s new CEO Darren Woods announced the company’s $20 billion commitment to the U.S. energy industry.
RELATED: Exxon just made President Trump’s list of favorite American companies
Exxon’s old CEO, Rex Tillerson, is no longer in the oil field, but he has been instrumental in implementing President Trump’s vigorous America first policies as the newest secretary of state, so perhaps it’s no coincidence that the Texas-based company has stepped up its job-creating efforts.
With new technologies increasingly moving us away from oil, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is grasping at straws trying to maintain the leverage on oil prices by cutting production. However, OPEC has since backtracked on its stance of the cuts for the future, given the continuous decreases in barrel prices despite production caps.
At the moment, oil remains around $50 a barrel, down from the spike in 2014 when prices were nearly double, but experts predict increases in U.S. shale drilling could force the price down to around $40 despite OPEC’s best efforts.
Producers are next scheduled to meet on the developing matter at a global conference in Vienna this May.
Tillerson, Woods, and Trump may be laughing all the way to the bank in the meantime.
