The oil company CEO was practically giddy, she was so excited about its record earnings. On a call with shareholders and analysts on March 31, Occidental Petroleum’s Vicki Hollub bragged that the century-old oil giant was hitting new production records at its drilling sites in the Rockies, helping it build “the strongest foundation for free cash flow generation in Oxy’s history.”
The boasting highlighted an incredible run for the industry: Five of the biggest — U.S. giants ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, and TotalEnergies, plus British giant BP — more than doubled their profits in 2022, with a cumulative profit of $200 billion, much of that in cash or cash equivalents. To illustrate the resurgence of the sector, Chevron and Exxon together are sitting on $48 billion in such assets, compared to $10 billion in early 2021.
