Source: New Republic

Excerpt:

The days leading up to the end of the year are, for many, a time for reflection: to look back on the last year and ahead to the next. That’s no different for fossil fuel executives. A new report provides some insight into their New Year’s resolutions for 2024: Expand production and buy more stuff.

Each quarter, the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas surveys oil and gas executives about the state of their industry. It polls the heads of small and large exploration and production companies as well as oil field services firms. (These generally don’t produce fossil fuels themselves but do things like manufacture, maintain, and repair drilling equipment; survey land; and haul fluids used in extractive processes.) Respondents are asked to report their activities and expectations for benchmark oil prices like West Texas Intermediate, a key factor in firm-level investment decisions. “Special questions,” which change every quarter, ask about more recent happenings in the industry, and participants are allowed to anonymously comment on all of the above. Rather than the kind of hard data you might get from something like a rig count, these surveys are a kind of vibe check on the fossil fuel industry’s top brass. Every year, they seem to be cranky.

Read more: Fossil Fuel Execs Had a Fabulously Wealthy Year—and They’re Mad About It