Big Oil Will Miss the Discipline Imposed by ESG: Javier Blas

Fossil-fuel investors may come to mourn their years in the wilderness. It’s true that the rise of environmental; social and governance concerns made oil, gas and coal almost un-investable. But, even truer, it drove valuations to bargain levels and imposed a cost discipline and a focus on shareholder returns that are funding today’s dividends.

For the brave, Big Oil’s time in investment purgatory offered a once-in-a-lifetime buying opportunity. Nathan Rothschild’s advice to “buy when there’s blood in the street” is a favorite of contrarian investors. And, between 2018 and 2022, there was a lot of red spattering the charts, especially in mid-2020 when the pandemic hit, ...