Oil firms promised billions to investors. Now what next after price crash?
An oil price plunge means the world’s top energy companies will have to review promises to return billions to investors, either by slowing down share buybacks or reintroducing non-cash dividends, analysts said on Monday.
Brent crude was trading at around $36 a barrel, down around 20 per cent by 16:45 GMT on Monday, when analysts lowered share price forecasts for top oil and gas producers.
The Brent benchmark has fallen by as much as a third since Thursday, just before Russia walked away from an agreement by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to cut output.
The slide is expected to force a rethink of spending plans by boards that had cut costs in response to a 2014 oil downturn when OPEC opened wide the oil taps to try to protect market share following the US shale oil revolution.
