Chevron's $53 billion Hess deal will dramatically change the discussion at COP28

Second blockbuster oil deal in two weeks shows fossil fuel industry circling the wagons in U.S.

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Hess operations in the Gulf of Mexico. Photo: Hess.

(David Callaway is founder and Editor-in-Chief of Callaway Climate Insights. He is the former president of the World Editors Forum, Editor-in-Chief of USA Today and MarketWatch, and CEO of TheStreet Inc. His climate columns have appeared in USA Today, The Independent, and New Thinking magazine).

LONDON (Callaway Climate Insights) — Chevron Corp.’s CVX 0.00%↑ blockbuster $53 billion deal to buy Hess Corp. on Monday will dramatically change the discussion at the upcoming COP28 climate summit in Dubai as the fossil fuel industry doubles down on oil and gas in the U.S. for the foreseeable future.

Despite increased calls from the UN and climate activists worldwide governments to phase down fossil fuels, more than $100 billion in oil, gas and shale deals in the U.S. in October show that Big Oil is circling the wagons and plans to drive as much profit from existing resources as possible while it can.