Big Oil’s Petrochemical Bet Has Hit A Snag

As oil markets are slowly recovering from the oil price bust in April, big oil is facing a set of new challenges in the next couple of years. The Covid-19 pandemic has simply magnified what was already plaguing the industry before the downturn. Eyeing the future, the oil majors have made bets on other sectors, such as petrochemicals, but even a long-term bet on plastic is not looking quite as good as it once did. For years, the largest integrated oil companies soothed shareholders with hefty dividend payouts. But they have had to pile on debt in…