Investing more to gain less

From Exxon Rips U.S. Push on Fracking Oversight by Tom Fowler in the Wall Street Journal today:

"The bulk of Exxon's investment is going to be spent on massive capital projects worldwide, the company said, with a total of 21 major oil and gas projects beginning production between 2012 and 2014.  In the meantime, however, the company said its 2012 production would dip by about 3%.

The size of the decline came as a surprise to a number of analysts, including Simmons & Co.'s Guy Baber, who said he was forecasting a 2% drop.

"This is just another example of the industry needing to spend far more just to generate the same, or lower, production output," Mr. Baber said in an e-mail."