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Trending News:Hegseth: More Vessels are Flowing Through the Strait of HormuzEdison Says Qatar Still Evaluating Impact of Iran Attack on LNG SupplyUS Oil Heads to Greece for First Time in Four Years as Refiners Look for Alternatives to Middle East CrudeUS Warns Americans in Saudi Arabia to Shelter in Place After ThreatsUS Oil Output Fell the Most in 2 Years During January Winter Storm, EIA Data ShowsBrent Hits $118 as Hormuz Shock Blows Out Spread With WTIU.S. Extends Deadline for Lukoil’s Foreign Asset Sales to May 1Trump Urges Countries to Go to Strait of Hormuz and ‘Just Take It’US Exempts Gulf of Mexico Drillers From Protecting Endangered SpeciesConstellation Plans $3.9 Billion Capex, Lifts Buyback Amid Clean Power DemandHalf the World’s Oil Comes From Just Five Countries – Visual CapitalistUAE Investment Firm Buys U.S. Midstream Gas Assets for $2.25 BillionAsia Burns More Coal as Middle East War Sends LNG Prices to 3-Year HighsAir Products readies for NASA’s largest-ever hydrogen supply ahead of Artemis IIVideo | “We need to work on resilience” – Nippon GasesCarbiCrete secures C$700,000 to scale CO2-based concreteGlobal helium shortage sends ‘silent bottleneck’ signal to AIGlobal helium shortage sends ‘silent bottleneck’ signal to AIUS Pump Prices Hit $4 a Gallon as Iran War Wreaks Havoc on Global Energy SupplyBig Tech’s $635 Billion AI Spending Faces Energy Shock Test, S&P Global SaysPlanned LNG Plant in Alaska Seeks Equipment from Sanctioned Russia FirmTrump Tells Allies to Fight for Fuel or Buy From USAAlkaline industrial wastewater ‘can bind and store CO2’Chevron Reports “Extensive Damage” at Major LNG ProjectIndia Says 28 Oil and Gas Ships Are Stranded Near the Strait of HormuzSix More Weeks of Choked Hormuz Supply Could Send Oil to $200Helium: What in the world just happened?ARRAY Technologies Opens New 30,000-Square-Foot Headquarters For APA Solar In Ohio To Accelerate Utility-Scale InnovationOriana Power Secures ₹3,135 Crore Green Ammonia Deal With Solar Energy Corporation Of IndiaMiddle East Renewable Energy Investment Surges 28% Driven By AI And Government-Backed ProjectsSoutheast Asia Weekly Roundup: Indonesia Targets 100 GW Solar; Vietnam Boosts Solar Recycling and More…Vietnam Pushes Rooftop Solar and Energy Saving to Secure Power FutureUK food waste legislation comes into forceAugust Energy And Mega Energy JV To Boost Zero-Capex Solar Adoption In Vietnam’s C&I SectorMesser sales static despite electronics gainsPodcast | Live from Rotterdam: CO2 finance, investment and future pricingExxon and QatarEnergy’s Joint Venture Golden Pass Produces First LNG at New Texas FacilityBrent Crude Heads for Record Monthly Gain With WTI Not Far Behind Bangladesh Seeks U.S. Waiver for Russian Diesel as IMF Warns of Energy ShockIranian Drone Sets Kuwaiti Oil Tanker on FireU.S. Gas Prices Top $4 as Middle East Conflict Disrupts SupplyUSA Gasoline Price Jumps to Over $4 Per GallonGolden Pass LNG achieves first production in TexasGolden Pass LNG achieves first production in Texas‘A true gasman’: Industry remembers John ‘Buzz’ CampbellAir Liquide notes sustainability gains as Advance plan endsCanada invests C$17m in carbon captureThree key issues to resolve with the Strait of HormuzThree key issues to resolve with the Strait of HormuzIran Strikes Loaded Kuwait Oil Tanker off DubaiQatarEnergy Brings U.S. LNG Online Amid Ras Laffan FalloutPowell: Fed Will ‘Wait and See’ Before Pulling Interest Rate TriggerKorean reactor gets go-ahead to restartSouth Africa’s Necsa seeks SMR partnershipApplication lodged for Poland’s first nuclear power plantHoltec SMR design clears key UK regulatory stageRooppur 1 boron flushes completed, ahead of fuel loadingUS Natural Gas Falls on Warmer Outlook, Growing Storage SurplusWATCH: Venezuelan Opposition Leader MARIA CORINA MACHADO Speaks at CERAWeek – Proposes to “Unlock” Venezuelan Oil and Have Goven…War Complicates Pricing of Saudi Arabia’s Oil for AsiaSouth Korea Weighs First Public Driving Restrictions in 35 YearsNigeria Pays 65% More for Gasoline as Dangote Battles Crude Import CostsGlobal Fuel Prices Are Surging as the Middle East War Hits ConsumersChina Sends Fuel to Struggling Southeast Asia Despite Export BanAustralia Cuts Fuel Tax in Half as Middle East War Squeezes SupplyIndia Leans on Coal and Renewables as War Throttles Gas SupplyBrent Hits $115 as Trump Threatens Iran’s Oil Wells and Power PlantsPoland signs large-scale biogas power dealAmbit Semiconductors expands AI technologies in USCOMMENTARY: Crude Oil and LNG Supply are at Risk of the Worst-Possible Scenario: RussellA Riskier Mideast Will Drive Big Oil Toward New Frontiers: BoussoOil Heads for Record Monthly Leap as Houthi Attacks Widen Gulf ConflictSome Trades Ahead of Trump Policy Moves Raise QuestionsTrump Again Warns Iran to Open Strait of HormuzTrump Says He Wants to “Take the Oil” in IranRussian Tanker Set to Arrive in Cuba Despite U.S. BlockadeDenmark to research converting industrial gases into low-carbon productsHelium diverted to critical sectors as supplies tightenMiddle East Renewable Energy Investment Surges On AI Demand And Integrated Infrastructure PushEntergy Louisiana and Meta Seal New Deal to Power $2B in Customer Savings for Mega Data CenterIndonesia Accelerates 100 GW Solar Plan to Achieve Energy IndependenceVietnam Advances Solar Sustainability With IREX And Hamada Recycling PartnershipU.S. Adds 43 GW Of New Solar In 2025 As SEIA And Wood Mackenzie Report Fifth Straight Year Of Solar Leading All Power SourcesJPM Warns of Vulnerability That Could Add $20 to Oil PriceVideo | European Biogas Association: Europe’s biogenic CO2 marketWoodside pulls Browse CCS plan amid approvals overhaulArgentina’s State Oil Firm Dodges $16B PayoutOil Climbs on Fears of Multi-Front Supply ShockOil Set to Book Record Monthly Gain on Iran Crisisgasworld to launch unified platform for industrial gas and hydrogengasworld to launch unified platform for industrial gas and hydrogenGulf crisis shines light on energy flows and need to derisk LNG routesSponsored content: Improving operations with JIP33 gas fitting standardsRussia Warns of Force Majeure on Oil Cargoes After Port DisruptionsTrump Claims Iran Yielded to US War Demands$100 Oil Is Solving Russia’s Budget ProblemAker BP’s Earnings Slide Masks a Massive Growth PushNew Hampshire to assess deployment of advanced reactorsIn Pictures: Akkuyu 2’s polar crane installedBulgarian repository moves closer to commissioning
A combination of file photos shows the logos of five of the largest publicly traded oil companies; BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies. REUTERS
A combination of file photos shows the logos of five of the largest publicly traded oil companies; BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell and TotalEnergies. REUTERS
Summary
Current payouts unsustainable with oil below $80 a barrel
Crude oil prices expected to continue falling
Companies under pressure to cut debt
Reduced buybacks and job cuts announced
The five biggest global oil majors are moving to cut costs, jobs and share buybacks as falling oil prices threaten to make shareholder payouts unsustainable without increasing debt, analysts said.
Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell and TotalEnergies have pledged high returns for the past decade to avert an investor exodus as fossil fuels lost their appeal.
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But maintaining those generous payouts, which have topped $100 million annually since 2022, has increasingly been funded by debt as energy prices retreated from highs caused by sanctions and supply disruptions in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Oil majors, now pressed to reinvest in exploration and production, must choose between cutting some operations, letting debt rise to unsustainable levels or weaning shareholders off popular but pricey returns.
Rising global oil output, meanwhile, is expected to keep prices falling, leaving the majors facing some difficult decisions.
A bar chart showing the annual amount spent on dividends and share buybacks from 2019 to 2025 by five major energy firms: Chevron, Exxon, BP, Shell and TotalEnergies. The total amount has exceeded $100 billion annually since 2022.
Most oil majors need oil prices above $80 a barrel to sustain current levels of dividends and share buybacks, which hit record highs buoyed by bumper profits in 2022, according to data from RBC Capital Markets and BofA Global Research.
A chart showing what oil price European energy majors need in order to sustain shareholder payouts.
A line chart showing the evolution of the Brent Crude oil price from January 2022 to September 2025, during which it lost nearly 40% of its value.
To contend with lower prices, TotalEnergies said it will reduce its buybacks from the fourth quarter of this year and to the tune of $7.5 billion by the end of 2030 to reduce debt.
A chart presenting the gearing — a measure of debt to equity — for major energy companies.
BP and Chevron have reduced buybacks this year. Shell has not announced plans for any cuts to its buyback programme.
More than a dozen energy companies have announced job cuts for 2025 and 2026, including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell and BP.
(This story has been refiled to fix the hyperlink in the last paragraph)
Reporting by America Hernandez in Paris Additional reporting by Stephanie Kelly in London Editing by David Goodman
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