New Delhi, Dec. 14 -- Oil companies must ramp up investment in exploration and production to meet future demand, Prasanna V. Joshi, a senior ExxonMobil executive, said, while cautioning that output increases by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) could lead to a near-term glut.

In November, eight core Opec+ countries, including Russia, increased crude output by about 160,000 barrels per day, according to estimates by Argus. With this, the oil cartel has cumulatively added around 2.25 million barrels per day since it began unwinding production cuts on a monthly basis in April 2025.

Joshi, corporate director for economics and energy at the US energy giant, said that the demand-supply scenario in the near term may rema...