California write-downs: Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Brangelina

This year started with massive writedowns from both Chevron and ExxonMobil in California. You don’t need to read the all-time classic of industry literature, “Oil!”, by Upton Sinclair (nor watch the classic film “There Will Be Blood” which is based on the book) to know there is a long and storied history of oil in California. In this note we write brief histories that led to the write-downs. Spoiler alert, we start with the conclusions, …

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