They might have signaled one thing via press releases, PR campaigns, token donations to activists or whatever.......but let's be completely clear - their lobbying dollars and large campaign donations haven't gone to politicians promoting green energy nor to politicians who want to transition away from oil.
On a longer time scale, let's see where the bulk of their lobbying budgets go (to a particular party or sect within a given party), or the initiatives their lobbyist friends have been tasked with passing or defeating.
My guess is that when push comes to shove, the oil companies are not friendly to green energy.
I mean, let's not overrate the lobbying of the Oil and Gas industry. They don't even crack the top 5 sources of lobbying dollars in the US. They are there right alongside lobbyists for solar and wind and nuclear and etc. (And let's also not set aside that most of the oil extracted in the world is not done by private companies but by government ventures).
And again, their lobbying is a drop in the bucket as to their actual discovery expenditures.
I don't think it's a helpful narrative that oil companies are hell bent on forcing oil down our throats unwillingly. Sure, they will do whatever to make a buck, but they would gladly switch to green energy if they thought it was more profitable. We have even seen this when Exxon (briefly) was the number one spender on solar R&D in the world.
I think people see the lobbying and underrate the extent that it's a two-way street. Politicians NEED low oil prices. Voters WANT low oil prices. And to a certain extent, oil companies have all the cards because of the demand.
Open secrets lists oil & gas at $123 million/year of lobbying, #8th highest spender
#3 highest spender is insurance, at $158m, #2 electronics at $221m, pharma at #1 $373m.
I too think we have to try to be reasonable, & there's a lot of factors, and it's hard. They are a gigantic lobbying force, quite close to top 3 though.
It's also worth keeping in mind that they don't have to lobby -- US O&G is a strategic source of strength and have had power that went all the way to the top. The Bush family, for example, produced two Presidents, and the Bush fam were all about oil.
No need to spend the money when you get it for free.
Meanwhile it's clear to the average American that healthcare is broken as shit and is ruining lives daily; takes a lot of money to keep things looking good for Pharma. Ditto for much of the tech world.
Sure - but setting aside lobbying and PR releases their own capex reports show that US domestic companies were seriously cutting back on oil exploration between 2014 and 2020. And the investments they were making were overwhelmingly to (lower carbon) natural gas.
To put it another way, in that period they reduced their lobbying budget by $50 million and their production investment by $400 billion. It is the lobbying that is pennies.
I've seen enough Climate Town videos (YT channel) to not trust anything that comes the from O&G direction. It may be very well that the exploration was cut back, but that could be for a number of reasons. Without knowing any details, I would blatantly assume they cut back purely out of it being the most profitable thing to do.
Seriously, go watch Climate Town, the guy running the channel is a comedy genius (and also has a degree in climate science).
> Without knowing any details, I would blatantly assume they cut back purely out of it being the most profitable thing to do.
Yes, that is blatantly what they did. There was an entire speech from President Biden on it:
“You should be using these record-breaking profits to increase production and refining, - Invest in America for the American people. Bring down the price you charge at the pump to reflect what you pay for the product... My message to oil companies is this: You’re sitting on record profits. And we’re giving you more certainty so you can act now to increase oil production now.”
So again, oil and gas companies found it more profitable to produce less, and it became a national political issue to not let them.
Yep, that sounds about right. O&G being O&G and American politicians being American politicians.
Rant: I'm so sick of the phrase "what the average citizen pays at the pump" and it's relatives. How about making public transport viable? Nope, everyone's got to have big cars and cheap fuel.
The power of the oil industry comes not through their lobbying, but mainly from the fact that $5.00 gas will get politicians voted out of office, and they all know it.
On a longer time scale, let's see where the bulk of their lobbying budgets go (to a particular party or sect within a given party), or the initiatives their lobbyist friends have been tasked with passing or defeating.
My guess is that when push comes to shove, the oil companies are not friendly to green energy.