The oil majors are increasingly betting their futures on a mix of downstream enterprises. Refineries, processing, petrochemical facilities and retail gasoline stations are gaining in importance, while upstream spending stalls. The WSJ reports that BP has plans to open 1,000 retail gasoline stations in Mexico and India over the next three years while ExxonMobil has massive investments tied up in refineries along the Gulf Coast. Other oil majors have similar plans, while also stepping up bets on renewable energy. The IEA estimates that the oil industry will add 7.7 million barrels per day of new refining capacity by 2023. Refining is in some ways a safer bet than major outlays on upstream exploration. Spending tens or even hundreds of millions on exploring in deepwater could result in dry wells. Pouring that money into downstream ventures has a more certain payoff. Over the long-term, price volatility for crude adds risks […]