Word: exxon
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...Exxon shuts down its shale project...
Last week the U.S. synthetic-fuels program suffered its sharpest blow, one that could prove to be a major setback for large-scale attempts to develop energy alternatives to conventionally obtained oil. Exxon, the world's largest energy company, and the Tosco Corp. pulled out of their multibillion-dollar Colony Shale Oil Project in Colorado, effectively abandoning the most ambitious U.S. synthetic-fuel project...
...grand dreams of Colony were done in by the high costs of the new technology and the prospect of flat, or perhaps even declining, world oil prices. When Exxon joined Tosco in the Colony project in 1980, it estimated that $2 billion to $3 billion would be spent. The latest estimates, which were presented to Exxon's directors in April, ran to a budget-bursting $6 billion...
...Exxon's long-term forecasts still anticipate an increase in oil prices, but not as rapid as previously expected. R.P. Larkins, the manager of Exxon U.S.A.'s synthetic-fuels department, said that shale oil is simply too expensive now and that "nothing over the long term would offset our costs." Adds John Lichtblau, president of the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation: "The fact is that from a market point of view, most synfuel projects are not economically viable...
With lower earnings, Big Oil has been forced into some uncharacteristic penny pinching. Exxon, for example, has halted its image-boosting advertising campaign featuring that familiar theme: "We're Exxon. We're more than 100,000 people working on energy." In many cases, the cutbacks are more than cosmetic. Texaco has closed one refinery and plans to shut down two more, eliminating a total of 1,250 jobs. Worse, several companies are trimming their exploration budgets The number of drilling rigs in operation has dropped 27% since December...