Big Oil’s Blockbuster $114 Billion Investor Payout Is Most Ever

Cash return was 76% higher than during the $100-a-barrel era
Executives are ramping buybacks to lift low stock valuations

Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., Shell Plc, TotalEnergies SE and BP Plc spent $113.8 billion on 2023 dividends and share repurchases despite a slump in crude prices. — Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., Shell Plc, TotalEnergies SE and BP Plc spent $113.8 billion on 2023 dividends and share repurchases despite a slump in crude prices.
Photographer: Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg

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By Kevin Crowley

February 7, 2024 at 9:02 PM UTC

This article is for subscribers only.

Oil supermajors returned more cash to shareholders than ever before last year as management teams reined in spending on new projects to free up cash for dividends and buybacks. There may be more to come.

Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., Shell Plc, TotalEnergies SE and BP Plc spent $113.8 billion on 2023 dividends and share repurchases despite a slump in crude prices. The outlays were more than 10% higher than a year earlier, when Russian’s invasion of Ukraine threw global energy markets into disarray, swelling oil-industry profits.