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But the companies and other large oil producers are continuing to increase production because drilling still remains profitable.
Oct. 31, 2025, 7:10 a.m. ET
Oil prices have fallen, climbed, and fallen again over the past few weeks after a series of geopolitical developments that included a fragile cease-fire in Gaza and new U.S. sanctions on Russian energy.
But at the end of October, the oil market was much where it began the month, with prices hovering around $60 a barrel and companies bracing for the possibility that they could slide further.
There is a lot of oil sloshing around the world, and demand has not kept up. Uncertainty about the future of global trade and the health of the U.S. economy are further muddling the outlook.
Rather than cutting production, America’s largest oil companies are pumping away. Exxon Mobil’s output climbed about 4 percent in the third quarter, compared with a year earlier. Chevron produced around 7 percent more, not counting contributions from Hess, which it bought this summer.
“Our cash flows from our assets are very resilient even in lower prices,” Eimear Bonner, Chevron’s chief financial officer, said in an interview. Cycles, she added, “don’t typically last for long periods of time.”
Exxon and Chevron are in good company, with the oil cartel known as OPEC Plus also ramping up. Saudi Arabia and other members of OPEC Plus are set to meet Sunday to consider putting still more oil into the market. All told, global supplies will increase around 2.1 percent this year, even as demand expands a mere 0.9 percent, according to UBS estimates.
