Oil companies maintain capital discipline despite higher oil prices

摘要

Second quarter financial results released so far by majors and US independents reiterate a commitment to capital discipline and increasing returns to shareholders via higher dividends and share buy-back programmes. However, for the most part, earnings growth failed to meet expectations. Despite oil prices that are up over 50% y-o-y, major companies, with the exception of ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips, kept their short and medium term upstream investment plans flat. The results announcements reinforce a key message from the IEA’s recently published World Energy Investment 2018 (WEI 2018). The report sees upstream spending growing by 5% this year to $472 billion, a continuation of the modest recovery that started last year. This remains well below the peak of $780 billion spent in 2014, reflecting lower activity but also sustained cost control and efficiency improvements.