The commodity rally may be the talk of Wall Street, but old-school energy producers are still lagging the oil price big time — a tell-tale sign the era of green investing is in full swing.
U.S. oil and gas companies are trading at less than half 2014 levels — the last time West Texas Intermediate crude topped $80 a barrel — while European energy equities are similarly underperforming. A key difference this time round: Trillions of investing dollars are now wedded to environmental, social, and governance rules that prohibit exposures to dirty energy.
All that is capping gains in the exploration and production sector this year, even as oil rides multiyear highs, the energy crunch spreads and demand rises for raw materials in the great economic reopening.
This article was first published on bloomberg.com