Underinvestment risks future oil price spikes, ExxonMobil's Joshi warns

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. New Delhi: Oil companies must ramp up investment in exploration and production to meet future demand, Prasanna V. Joshi, a senior ExxonMobil executive, said, while cautioning that output increases by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) could lead to a near-term glut.

In November, eight core Opec+ countries, including Russia, increased crude output by about 160,000 barrels per day, according to estimates by Argus. With this, the oil cartel has cumulatively added around 2.25 million barrels per day since it began unwinding production cuts on a monthly basis in April 2025. Joshi, corporate director for economics and energy at the US energy giant, said that the demand-supply scenario in the near term may remain volatile.

"We are seeing that Opec might actually start cutting (production) moving forward, as opposed to continuing to grow. So it's very uncertain to predict. But in the scenario that Opec continues to produce more, then, yes there will be an oversupply given what the demand projection from our outlook is in the near term," he told Mint in an interview.

The Opec+ countries are scheduled to raise output by 137,000 barrels per day in December. However, the cartel has decided to pause the increases in output during the January-March quarter amid anticipation of a seasonal drop in demand. An oversupply would lead to a fall in global crude prices.

This prospect holds significance for India, which is a major importer of crude. Currently, Brent crude is trading around $61 per barrel, compared to over $70 a barrel a year ago. Stressing on the need to invest in both conventional energy sources and new technologies such as Carbon Capture Utilization and Storage (CCUS)