Big Oil may have to break dividend taboo as debt spirals

article author: 

Reuters

Author: 

Thu, 2020-03-26 04:47

LONDON: The world’s biggest oil and gas firms should break an industry taboo and consider cutting dividends, rather than taking on any more debt to maintain payouts as they weather the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, investors say.

The top five so-called oil majors have avoided reducing dividends for years to keep investors sweet and added a combined $25 billion to debt levels in 2019 to maintain capital spending, while giving back billions to shareholders.

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Business & Economy

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Oil

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