California sues oil majors for risk minimization (ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips and Chevron)

2023-09-16 16:52:00

It’s a real bomb sent by the State of California. On Friday, he hired lawsuits once morest five of the world’s largest oil companies, Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips and Chevron. And maybe even six with the American Petroleum Institute, also targeted, according to the New York Times. The complaint was filed in San Francisco Superior Court. Reason: the five oil companies are said to have minimized the risks to the climate due to fossil fuels by carrying out major disinformation campaigns.

Other cities, counties and states in the United States have already taken such legal action. These companies have “ intentionally minimized the risks posed by fossil fuels to the population, despite knowing that their products might lead to significant global warming ”, this since the 1950s, underlines the complaint, according to the New York Times. California wants the country’s big polluters to be held accountable.

« For more than fifty years, Big Oil (all the giants of the sector, Editor’s note) lied to us, hiding the fact that they knew for a long time how dangerous the fossil fuels they produced were for our planet. “said the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, in a statement Friday.

Oil: growth in global demand will slow in 2024

A fund to deal with damage

« Their deceptions delayed the response to global warming “, with ” a high cost for the population, goods and natural resources, which continues to weigh every day », Adds the 135-page complaint, according to the newspaper.

Oil companies have sought to circumvent these complaints for six years, but last May the US Supreme Court in two cases refused to consider an appeal, allowing the complaints to proceed in court. A first setback which shows awareness of the impact of this sector on the environment. Complaints that are reminiscent of those successfully initiated once morest the tobacco giants, or once morest the pharmaceutical industry in the case of the proliferation of opioids.

California calls for the creation of a fund to deal with future damage caused by climate change in this state, victim of forest fires, floods and other extreme phenomena fueled by global warming.

2023 probably the hottest year in history, “climate collapse has begun” (UN)

Oil demand will slow in 2024

Oil companies, for their part, have never posted such high profits. With the price of a barrel of Brent oil, which has gained more than 8% in one month and returned to settle above 92 dollars in recent days, the world economy is facing the return of expensive oil, particularly since Saudi Arabia and Russia have confirmed that they will extend the reduction in their supply until the end of the year, by 1 million barrels per day (mb/d) and 400,000 b/d respectively. The United States, Brazil and Iran had partially offset the demand.

Because the latter does not slow down, it even increased by 2.2 million barrels per day (mb/d) this year. In July, kerosene demand exceeded a record level of 1 mb/d. Road traffic increased by 30% over the June-August period compared to the same period of 2022. But the phenomenon should reach a plateau during the last quarter, and stabilize, according to the IEA.