Markets are reeling from high oil prices. But that doesn't mean more drilling.

Global markets may be reeling from another surge in oil prices, but the industry that produces the world's crude is unlikely to respond with a sudden drilling boom. Even as benchmark prices climb toward levels that historically would have triggered aggressive investment, energy analysts say companies such as Exxon Mobil (XOM), Chevron (CVX), and ConocoPhillips (COP) are instead looking past the current spike and focusing on where prices are expected to settle over the coming decade — a horizon that still ...