Underneath their swagger and bravado, global energy chiefs gathered here for their annual U.S. conference expressed a palpable sense of dread over the soaring costs of their signature oil and gas projects. “All of us are facing new realities and pressures,” John Watson , chairman and chief executive of Corp. , told a hotel ballroom jammed with an international assortment of men in suits and the occasional woman. “Labor and capital costs have doubled over the last decade.” To pay for the rising price of extracting fossil fuels, the industry needs triple-digit oil prices, Mr. Watson warned. “The $100 barrel is the new $20,” he said—a sobering statement since global oil prices haven’t been in the $20 range since 2002. Where once concerns focused on the apparent shortage of new elephant-size oil and natural gas fields, this year’s CERAWeek produced a lot of anxiety over soaring costs. Executives “are […]