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ExxonMobil CEO's Convinced EVs Are the Future, Says Oil Will Nonetheless Remain Relevant

It might look like oil companies are accepting defeat one by one. The reality, however, couldn’t be more different. ExxonMobil’s CEO tells us why the transition to zero-emission vehicles is inevitable, while also hinting at what the future has in store for drivers and the shipping industry. Here’s what he has to say and why the executive is confident his company will survive.
ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods 6 photos
Photo: CNBC on YouTube
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Are oil companies bleeding us dry on purpose almost everywhere in the world? The national average price for fuel has dropped from $5 to $4.9 a gallon but it remains unnervingly high in some places from California, Alaska, and Idaho. There’s a clear explanation for this and we already told you what can be done to lower the price of gas. Unfortunately, nothing relevant has happened in the last couple of weeks in this respect. We’re still paying a lot more than we would’ve liked to.

Keeping in mind the scenario we’re currently living, ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods says in a CNBC interview published on YouTube that electric vehicles like those made by Tesla, Rivian, Lucid, Ford, BMW, or GM are the future. The executive even anticipates that until we reach the year 2040, every car, van, or truck that reaches the consumer will be zero-emission.

The representative of the company that has lied about global warming for 40 years says they projected that oil demand will constantly fall and that won’t mean refining oil is going to be a thing of the past. Wood is convinced ExxonMobil will thrive even after all vehicles switch to electric propulsion.

“Chemical products play a really important role in people’s lives today. As you move forward into the future (…) chemicals are going to continue to play a really important role. That’s driving a lot of what we do and is a part of the reason why we’ve invested in this plant in Corpus Christi. The other big driver is industrial fuels, transportation fuels… Heavy duty! (…) Those tend to be a bigger piece of what we do in terms of delivering value,” said ExxonMobil’s CEO.

The executive also says that the facilities that are in use today will remain relevant thanks to their biofuels producing capabilities. He also thinks ExxonMobil is flexible enough to survive everything that’s to come, especially as nobody can predict what the transition to EVs will eventually look like.

"We don't view ourselves as being in the gasoline business or the diesel business," pointed out the CEO.

Darren Wood worked for ExxonMobil as a chemical engineer before being appointed CEO of the oil company. His expertise might be the one that leads the entity beyond the need for fossil fuels. ExxonMobil might remain a key player in manufacturing derivates from oil. Today there are over 6,000 products made from petroleum. Crude oil isn’t turned into just gas or diesel.

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About the author: Florin Amariei
Florin Amariei profile photo

Car shows on TV and his father's Fiat Tempra may have been Florin's early influences, but nowadays he favors different things, like the power of an F-150 Raptor. He'll never be able to ignore the shape of a Ferrari though, especially a yellow one.
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