Nobody likes to be proved wrong but when the upshot is billions of dollars more cash for your company, it certainly helps to soften the blow.
Take Bob Dudley, the BP boss, who spent much of 2017 predicting that oil would be stuck at $50-$60 a barrel for the next few years. In fact, Brent crude averaged $67 in the first quarter and $72 so far this quarter.
Sure, Mr Dudley reckons staying in that “fairway” would be ideal, but he’s not complaining too loudly as prices stray higher. Every $1 rise translates to about an extra $340 million a year in operating profits for BP’s exploration and production arm. That’s why Wednesday’s surge to $77 a barrel when the US said it would renew