Big Oil on course for near-record $38bn in share buybacks

Big Oil on course for near-record $38bn in share buybacks

Western oil and gas majors are on course to buy back shares at near record levels this year as they seek to win investor confidence by boosting returns.

The seven supermajors — BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Chevron, TotalEnergies, Eni and Equinor — are poised to return $38bn to shareholders through buyback programmes this year, according to data from Bernstein Research. Investment bank RBC Capital Markets puts the total figure even higher at $41bn.

That would be almost double the $21bn in buybacks completed in 2014 when oil last traded above $100 a barrel and the highest level since 2008 when their total buybacks topped $46bn driven by a huge share purchasing scheme at Exxon.

Between 2006 and 2008, Exxon, then the world’s biggest company by market capitalisation, bought back roughly $30bn of its own shares every year, supported by a period of capital discipline and the divestment of assets following its 1999 merger with Mobil.

This time, every supermajor has supercharged its share purchasing programme, said Biraj Borkhataria at RBC Capital Markets. “The sector is in the best shape it’s been in for a long time. Now the question is the duration of the cycle.”

Shell is set to lead the pack, buying back more than