I understand Oil and Gas may be a dying industry.. but I'm one of the dummies that joined in the last few years from school. What level of sc--wed am I? Chevron has been around for so long, I assumed it would continue to survive at least another 40 50 years.. any suggestions?
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Electric vehicle sales in the US continue to surge, tripling from 2020 to 2023. Demand and sales are at all time highs, surpassing a million units per year and forecast to double that in the next few years. Most shoppers looking for a new car are looking closely at EVs so as not to be caught driving an obsolete dinosaur with fumes pouring out the back. We owe it all to Musk!
I think you can sense that O/G is a slowly dying industry. The IEA study said peak demand is around 2030. Most comments here still argue that the industry will be around. That's good for some people, but are YOU going to want to be around jockeying for a job/position with other more experienced people? I would suggest you stay and learn whatever discipline you are in for a few years and then find other industries with a more promising future for yourself and your family.
@4kcx: "...that changes nothing about the rapid conversion of the US fleet to electricity." You must not be reading the news. Ford, Hertz, Polestar is hardly "cherry picking". Most of Europe is hybrid, not EV. Even Elon Musk is prepping his shareholders for reduced demand. Of course, if you want to quote the false math of going from 0% to 5% as a 500% increase, then you're right.
The last thing I read is that the initial surge of EV sales is over and done. That's the problem. Most people who want the pure EV's have them by now. Sales have slowed to a trickle. Hybrids are a different category and should be looked at separately. They still burn gas, remember. I wouldn't mind using a hybrid. At least you can get to where you're going in most cases.
Demand for electric vehicles is surging exponentially worldwide and particularly in the US. Over a million BEVs sold last year and that will double in the next few years. Nearly 20% of sales are some form of electric and it's growing fast.
You are welcome to cherry pick some vehicles which have not proven as popular as their manufacturers forecast, but that changes nothing about the rapid conversion of the US fleet to electricity.
@3ahi and others following, "test runs" and "test fleets" are hardly invigorating progress. We already have a decade (or more) of experience that biofuels are not profitable (or scalable), even with massive government subsidies. Ethanol is only kept alive by government regulations and ADM lobbying. Ford has stopped production of their F-150 EVs (too little range and towing power), Hertz is selling off a good chunk of their rental EVs (no demand, too high maintenance cost) and has stopped purchase of Polestar EVs. Tesla has gone radio-silent on their 18-wheel EVs, as well as having no luck interesting anyone in their EV pick-up. Drop your knee-jerk reactions to posters as "climate deniers", the key point is what we're seeing is that current technology is grossly insufficient to effect a "transition".
No counterargument or legit response, just name-calling? OK, sure. got it. Fall in line with the others.
Sounds like typical Chevron climate denial and crack pot ideas on renewables. Who moved your cheese?
@3ahi, Uhh, no. Try again with a better argument when you have a viable & reliable source of energy to recharge (fossil, nuclear?) and a reasonable prototype (will be experimental at that point) transportation fleet which is still decades away. We can sit here and dream about colonizing Mars also, if you like science fiction. Electric is already used in most cases where it can be, monorails, etc. but the energy source is generally HC. It's amazing how much fossil fuel and coal is being consumed in vehicle construction and mining to satisfy these fanciful experiments of the wealthy investors, but please disregard all that, we know it will consume more of something else also, under the guise of it being fueled by that. Like non-recyclable solar panels and windmill blades polluting the environment and harnessing a scant amount of unreliable energy. We're no where near there yet, pumpkin, but bless your heart.
Umm, except there are already commercial airliners being test run on renewable fuels and FritoLay has a test fleet of Tesla 18 wheelers. Nice try, though.
That is precisely the point, young people who join the industry today may have jobs for a while but they will face declining real salaries and wave after wave of layoffs. 3rd orders will keep eating away at what jobs are left.
Yeah, we first worlders expect more from our careers, what’s wrong with that?
As much as the greenies would like to bury the oil industry immediately, quite frankly there's no acceptable substitute for the energy density of fossil fuels. Commercial airliners will never run on batteries. 18-wheelers will never run on batteries. Greenies focus on EVs, which is really nothing but virtue signaling right now. EVs will only catch on where chargers are readily available (and reliable) and commute distances are short (i.e., cities). Consumers still want cheap and easy lifestyles (why global fossil fuel consumption continues to increase, not decrease). Oh, and let's not forget that petrochemicals will be here forever.
World opinion may be positive on 'climate change' action but doesn't want to pay for it. A true transition away from fossil fuels (wind and solar are not the answer) will take about 20-30 years to happen to develop infrastructure and needs some tech breakthrough no one has thought of yet. All that said, the glory days of the oil industry are over, it will continue as a plateaued or slowly declining industry. Downstream will be pretty safe, upstream less so as it needs to adjust to less exploration and more production - geo-types will be less needed, REs and PEs more so.
The problem with a career in oil and gas is that if you loose your job at Chevron, where do you go to make as much money with the same work-life balance ?
A real problem for geoscientists and reservoir…
The oil and gas industry is not going to die. The cushy jobs in US E&P companies with high salary, job security and awesome benefits are probably more at risk. An CCS is not going to save our careers if they can make 10%+ returns on the projects.
I agree. NOCs can produce at lifting costs of $5/bbl or less. They will be the last men standing when nobody wants oil and prices collapse.
As you know most of world production is controlled by the NOC’s. A decline in oil demand will decimate IOC’s and only NOC’s will be left standing.
Dying industry where production and demand are both at near all time highs.... yeah.... makes sense
If you don’t have kids your old lady should be working full time.
If you get sacked you can always start over in another industry. Many people have done this. It is difficult but achievable. In the meantime, save as much cash as humanly possible.
O&G has been dying for the past 50+ years yet demand & production keeps marching upward year over year. Do you really think India and China will be de-carbonizing in our lifetimes? Stop believing politicians and left wing news sources. The only shift I can see is there will be less production in Western democracies due to corrupt politicians that are trying to appease powerful ESG forces and the mass media.
I was asked why I was entering the oil industry 32 years ago since it was a "sunset industry". Here I am still employed 32 years later with many amazing years of experience and financial benefit. We're going to need plenty of people just to run all the CCS projects waiting to be developed!
@1rysm ...lmao! Don't quit your day job, lil fella, lol.
Upping the dividend against reinvesting means the company is being slowly liquidated.
They just upped the Dividend 8% and climbing. I still own Chevron stock from the 80’s and 90’s. I’m making a fortune. To me that indicates a future of fossil fuels at least the next 30 years. That’s a career for most! Stay tuned.
There may be a shortage in workforce in next 20-30 years, but as western countries stop oil production, the jobs along with activity will move to the producing countries.
In 2035 Saudis/Iraqi/Iranians will produce more petroleum engineers than the US
It all depends on your skill set and risk tolerance, family and personal situation. Most likely, the full transition to clean energy will not happen until sometime in 2040's for variety of reasons and even if that happens it will be mostly within the industrialized countries and still about half of the total earth population will need hydrocarbons just for the energy needs [there still has to be an alternative for polymers and plastics, and many other products that are heavily involved in day to day life]. So yeah it will be a bumpy road but I think not many are coming to this field and many are retiring so ironically I think there will be a shortage of skilled workforce in 15 years.
Your kids will still be able to work for Chevron. The change will take decades.
Leave the industry as fast as you can and never look back. Dumpster fire declining climate destroying industry.
Well fossil fuels are still humanity best form of energy at the moment, for a wide range of activities (transportation, electrical power, medical and construction/processing). Granted lots of promises have been made to mitigate fossil fuel usage, however they fall extremely short when it comes to implementing policies reforms (transportation, urban design, etc..) and habit (individual/collective) changes. Consumption along with demand for fossil fuels is still increasing, a greater portion of transportation infrastructure funding still focus highways/roads tailored towards streamlining vehicular traffic. Change here is difficult, since the work is both immense and radical.
In your circumstances, depending on your profession (scientist, engineer, technician, administrator or manager) and experience, you should be alright, it may not be at chevron, perhaps at their competitors, research institutes, academia, etc...