Assignment Task ESSAY FORMAT Your assignment task is to research how "Big Oil" is facing up to these challenges, and whether any strategic thinking and change is demonstrated in their public pronouncements and forward-thinking. In a 2,000-word Essay you should outline the views of the industry, and not just concentrate on one particular oil company. In particular, you should discuss 3 main areas that are becoming increasingly challenging for oil companies: • the cash crunch of sub-$50/bbl oil on projects and dividends; • whether to abandon production-maximising policies; • planning by oil companies to plan for a low-carbon global world. Your own interpretations and conclusions from your researches are fundamental. Supporting your own arguments in a robust and objective manner will qualify for better marks than a simple re-statement of the data and opinion found in the research. This should be a high-level review; the allowed word count is a deliberate constraint, so make sure you discuss all the 3 themes highlighted above and do not get drawn into too much detail. Total Marks for Assignment: 100