Big Oil Gobbles Up Record Debt as Borrowing Costs Decline
- Six biggest oil companies sold $37 billion of bonds this year
- Dollar, euro borrowing costs are at lowest level in a year
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The world’s biggest oil companies are borrowing record amounts of money to cope with a slump in crude prices. Luckily, there’s rarely been a better time to go on a debt binge.
Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Chevron Corp., Total SA, BP Plc and Eni SpA have together sold the equivalent of $37 billion of bonds this year, about double the amount issued in the period before oil prices plunged, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. While this is stretching their balance sheets and even resulting in credit-rating downgrades, the lowest debt costs in a year are softening the blow.