Big oil gives booming profits back to shareholders rather than drill

(iStock)

Big oil companies are generating their biggest cash flows in years and heeding investor calls to return it to shareholders instead of using it to drill, The Wall Street Journal reports. 

The two largest U.S. oil companies, ExxonMobil and Chevron, reported last week their most profitable quarterly earnings since before the onset of the global pandemic. The industry is reaping the rewards of resurgent commodity prices—U.S. crude prices have topped $80 a barrel this month for the first time since 2014. Read the full story.