ExxonMobil released a plan Wednesday that aims to double the oil company's profits by 2027 as it expands lower emissions investments while preserving a strategy tilted towards fossil fuels.
ExxonMobil said it would keep a disciplined approach to overall spending, holding its annual capital budget to between $20 billion and $25 billion through 2027, when it targets earnings twice the level of 2019.
The company is expected to spend less than $20 billion this year, after slashing spending from above $30 billion annually in the years before the epidemic.
The strategy is designed to create shareholder value by leveraging our competitive advantages and keeping flexibility to respond to future policy changes and technology advances associated with the energy transition, said Chief Executive Darren Woods.
In the United States, higher gasoline prices have become a hot-button issue. On Tuesday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki criticized oil company CEOs bragging about the profits they make when gas prices go up. ExxonMobil expects to spend $15 billion on less emissions investments through 2027, including biofuels and hydrogen. ExxonMobil previously released a $3 billion plan for carbon capture and storage of CCS, but ExxonMobil released a press release that emphasized expanded crude oil exploration and production projects in Guyana, Brazil and the Permian Basin in the United States.