Flood of Oil Is Coming, Complicating Efforts to Fight Global Warming

Re:Flood of Oil Is Coming, Complicating Efforts to Fight Glo... by NeedMoreTea on Monday November 04, 2019 @11:29AM (#21443168)

If enough divest from Exxon they become a penny share, Greenpeace could buy them purely to sit the reserves away from use. Ridiculous, but being bought as the share price drops low enough is not. Every time a currency drops markedly businesses there are exposed to another round of international buyouts.

Similarly regulation and impact fines and levies will come. Maybe Exxon gets bought by someone looking to asset strip or use the remaining oil to pivot them elsewhere...

Would you pick up $100 and put it in your wallet in front of a police officer?

Note on meat - American and Argentinian meat specifically - other parts of the world manage to raise livestock in a far less destructive manner.

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Re:Flood of Oil Is Coming, Complicating Efforts to Fight Glo... by mxschumacher on Monday November 04, 2019 @11:35AM (#21443246)

"The Greenpeace buying Exxon for pennies" scenario is deeply unrealistic for the moment. It's like finding $295.000.000.000 on the street.

Exxon doesn't change if it's share price declines, the lower the price goes, the more attractive the opportunity from a risk-reward perspective.

With pension funds and hedge funds hungry for yields, somebody will always buy.

To go with your police scenario: In the oil industry, the police officer protects you while picking up the $100 bill and takes a 25% cut. That's the story of many oil-rich nations.

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Re:Flood of Oil Is Coming, Complicating Efforts to Fight Glo... by NeedMoreTea on Monday November 04, 2019 @12:17PM (#21443817)

Of course it is - yet governments and investments are showing early signs of divestment, including by pension schemes. If regulations to require carbon impact become a consideration in investment, or market listing - there's early signs some are thinking in those directions - then those pension schemes will start voting inconveniently or divest more significantly. If one of the top 5 blocs bakes climate into their approach trade, things could change fast.

Exxon have the mass that it will take a great deal to actually impact, but large industries have been abolished or turned into niche industry before. No reason to believe it won't happen again.

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