The US oil majors have been making headlines with their forays into alternatives – ExxonMobil with its move into algae as a potential biofuel, Chevron with its investment in solar to power oilfield operations, and ConocoPhillips with its pilot project to make diesel from chicken fat.
But these moves need to be put into perspective. “The scale that we’re talking about is vastly out of whack with the press it has received,” says Mark Flannery, energy analyst at Credit Suisse Global Energy. “For now it’s just dabbling compared to the size of the core business.”
