CEO Rex Tillerson says that it will be business as usual, climate change or no climate change, but the biggest customer is taking a dive into renewable future.
It seems that Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) CEO, Rex Tillerson, is not willing to budge from his position of a serious threat that climate change poses for the planet, and is not going to do so in the near future, as it seems. However, its biggest customer, the US military, is having other ideas though. It has just recently released a new energy security guideline, including how it intends to wean itself off from the petroleum products.
According to the released ‘Energy Security and Sustainable Strategy’, codenamed ES2 Strategy, it serves as a rebuke to Tillerson’s business model which says that it can no longer continue to assume that it has unimpeded access to energy, water, and other resources that are required to sustain a globally responsive US army.
It further goes on to say that the ‘ES2 Strategy will make the Army be resilient whilst preserving the future of the planet at the same time.’ If this plan holds weightage, then it would definitely ruffle the feathers of the Tillerson since it is the largest consumer of the petroleum products, second to the federal government.
The strategy calls for the inculcation of the concept of energy security and sustainability covering aspects of planning, procurement, system design, and construction. In terms of energy security, the Army will call upon to ensure that the energy resources are diversified and not redundant or disconnected from time to time.
It is obviously clear that the Army will not ‘turn off the taps’ overnight, but the reports state that it wants to slow down the torrent of petroleum supply down to a trickle. It must be stressed here that the main driving force behind this is the need for ‘force effectiveness’.
There are two other driving factors too – the budgetary cuts forcing US military in trying to be creative in managing its forces well while being on tight budgets and other that despite currently low oil prices, sooner than later, they will also shoot up, probably not through the roof.
While Mr. Tillerson may not feel intimidated by the military’s plan, only time will tell if he will have a ‘change of heart’ should the plan materialize, and whether he also steps into the renewable energy sector bandwagon, or if the Exxon Mobil CEO continues to play down the effects on climate change, as he has been for the past three years.
Exxon Mobil stock price ended the day at $103.02, a gain of 0.40%.
No comments:
Post a Comment