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Oil Majors Reward Investors After Crude's Rally Revives Profit

  • Statoil, Total, Conoco promise shareholders higher dividends
  • Exxon, Chevron shares plunged after output disappointments
General Economic Imagery From North Dakota Ahead Of The Republican Caucus

Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg

As oil’s existential crisis recedes, it’s bringing happier times for some shareholders.

The bosses of the world’s biggest oil companies are prioritizing investors over investments, channeling the extra cash that comes from $60 crude into share buybacks or higher dividends. Not everyone is equally blessed, with holders of stock in the largest U.S. producers suffering their worst two-day plunge in almost 10 years after disappointing results.