Evaluating ESG Related Events' Significance for Oil Companies in Relation To Stock Price Changes

Sammanfattning: ESG risks, which stands for environmental, social, and governance, has in recent years exploded as a conversational topic. Including ESG efforts in company reports, and being transparent about operations is not as foreign as before. However, companies operating in controversial sectors and areas, known to have great environmental impact, face increased pressure to comply with the ESG values. One sector would be the oil sector, which is known as one of the most controversial sectors in regards to social and environmental issues. Disastrous events, such as spills and deaths following operations, have spread fast and sometimes hit hard on stock prices. The report will assess changes in stock prices in relation to changes in ESG-risk scores and ESG news for a selected number of companies, as well as a few macro variables. For this, a multiple regression analysis will be carried through. The thesis concludes in a model in which the ESG variables cannot explain overall stock movements; the variables that are shown statistically significant are mainly macro variables. However, certain stock movements that are marked as influential points by the model, which in this case all were rapid stock movements, seem to be reflected better on the changes of the ESG variables, which paves the way for further research.