Big Oil majors are back in the black thanks to their corporate versions of austerity programs that saw spending shrink considerably along with costs. Shareholders have appreciated this, although they remain wary and insistent that oil companies focus on returning cash and not boosting production as a top priority. However, this may soon have to change simply because of the nature of oil resources: they are finite. Right now, Big Oil is right where it would like to be in terms of cash generation and returns to shareholders as well as in production. It’s in its very own Goldilocks zone. But after 2020, the supermajors will need to increase spending, a senior BlackRock executive told Reuters in an interview this week. “Would I be surprised if beyond 2020 capex budgets start to move higher? No, I wouldn’t. There will be a little cost inflation and they will need to […]