The majors' messy divide
Two gassy Europeans, two shale-obsessed Americans and one in between is too simplistic a division
It remains true that there are striking similarities between the five largest oil majors' strategies—focus on value over volume growth, lower production costs and high grading of portfolios through asset divestment, capital discipline and a commitment to shareholder value. But the shorthand for how to separate them may be less apposite. The received wisdom is that you can split the firms into the two firmly European majors, Shell and Total, which have bet significantly on LNG and got firmly on board with various energy transition technologies. The two US heavyweights, ExxonMobil and Chevron, have retrenched to international mega-projects and a domestic shale oil core. BP, with its British ro
Also in this section
9 January 2026
The Latin American producer’s crude prospects rely on a multi-pronged approach where even the relatively easy wins will take considerable time, effort and cost
9 January 2026
While many forecasters are reasserting the importance of oil and gas, petrostates should be under no illusion things are changing, and faster than they might think
8 January 2026
Indonesia and Malaysia are at the dawn of breathtaking digital capabilities. Their energy infrastructure must keep up with their ambitions
8 January 2026
The next five years will be critical for the North Sea, and it will be policy not geology that will decide the basin’s future
