November 7, 2022--Written by John Egan for Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Oil companies and some oil-producing nations are flush with cash right now, as strong demand growth and constrained supply have plumped cash coffers. If asked where the surplus cash should go, the International Energy Agency (IEA) (Paris, France) likely would say, split it between investments in traditional oil exploration, production and refining, on the one hand, and next-generation transportation fuels. That would mean sending less to shareholders.

That's the recommendation that emerges from the agency's signature analytic work, World Energy Outlook 2022 (WEO 22), released October 27. For more coverage of this report, see October 28, 2022, article - IEA Sees Potential Shift Toward Lower-Carbon World Amid Energy Crisis and October 31, 2022, article - IEA Details Investments in Electric Sector Needed to Fight Climate Change.