Oil price fall turns up the heat on Big Oil’s bloated payouts

(Corrects dateline to Oct 7, not Oct 6. No change to text)

By America Hernandez and Stephanie Kelly

PARIS/LONDON -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.

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