The five oil majors’ collective capex came in at just $74.1bn for 2021, down again on 2020’s threadbare figure for the new lowest in well over a decade (see chart). There was a clear continental split in spending trends: the two US majors ExxonMobil and Chevron saw substantial further spending falls, whilst their European peers Shell, TotalEnergies and BP saw a modest rebound from 2020’s nadir.