Oil and gas back in vogue for retail investors

Oil and gas back in vogue for retail investors

Oil and gas is back in fashion — at least on the stock market. Soaring fossil fuel prices, pushed higher by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, have helped the shares of the world’s biggest energy majors outperform every other sector since the start of the year.

After a bruising coronavirus pandemic, when oil demand collapsed and BP’s shares fell to a 27-year low, the so-called supermajors have come roaring back in 2022.

Shares in UK-listed Shell, Europe’s biggest oil company, are up 47 per cent since January, while BP’s have climbed 37 per cent. By contrast, the FTSE 100 is up less than 2 per cent, while the S&P 500 is down 14 per cent.

France’s TotalEnergies and Italy’s Eni have risen 26 per cent and 16 per cent respectively. But the biggest winners are the US supermajors. Texas-based ExxonMobil is up 71 per cent and has promised to buy back $30bn worth of stock, while Chevron is up 54 per cent.

It was not supposed to be this way.

Before Covid-19 slammed into the global economy, oil and gas companies were already finding it harder to attract investors as pressure to cut emissions increased and climate activists called on shareholders to divest. After oil prices