Why Everything Changed for Big Oil in 2020
The energy industry didn't start 2020 off on a strong footing. And then, thanks to the coronavirus, things got materially worse. The year was so bad, in fact, that it is likely to mark a major shift in the direction of integrated oil majors like Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.B), BP (NYSE: BP), Total (NYSE: TOT), and even U.S. oil stalwarts ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) and Chevron (NYSE: CVX). Here's a look at the trends you need to be thinking about.
After over a decade of production increases in the U.S. onshore space because of the growing use of fracking, the world entered 2020 with slightly more production than demand. It was an imbalance that OPEC and its partners had been trying to manage with production cuts. The problem was that every time OPEC trimmed output, it seemed like U.S. drilling just stepped in to take up the slack. Eventually, tensions within the oil group started to rise and a rift opened up with partner Russia.
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Source Fool.com
