Exxon posted its first quarterly loss in more than 30 years. But even as debt mounts and questions arise about peak oil demand, the oil supermajor nevertheless vowed to protect its dividend while also aiming to grow indefinitely into the future. Exxon lost $610 million in the first quarter, down from a profit of $2.4 billion a year earlier. Worse, the period only included a few weeks of oil prices at catastrophically low levels. As a result, the second quarter is bound to lead dramatically worse numbers. On an earnings call with investors and analysts, Exxon’s CEO noted the extreme uncertainty in the oil market, but aside from spending cuts and a slowdown on operations, the company’s long-term plans remain mostly unaltered. An excellent profile of ExxonMobil in Bloomberg Businessweek pointed out all the missteps that the company has made over the past decade, such as vastly overpaying for […]