Politics ‘hurting hunt for oil reserves’

Politically driven state energy companies are hindering access to oil reserves, threatening worldwide energy security, top executives of some the of the globe’s biggest oil majors said.

High oil prices and perceptions of soaring industry profits have prompted many producing countries to give national oil firms more power to extract richer fiscal terms and greater control over resources, pushing out international players, Rex Tillerson, chief executive of Exxon Mobil, said.


Such policies will lead to tighter oil supplies as Exxon and other majors stop deploying their technology, know-how and capital in some those countries, he said.

‘If there’s no room to share it then there is no role for us — it’s a simple as that,’ he told business and political leaders at the Spruce Meadows equestrian facility on the outskirts of Calgary.

‘I think that’s something that national oil companies have to get their minds around and they’ve got to help their governments get their minds around.’

Reuters