Big Oil Is Rolling in Cash, So Why Don't CEOs Want to Spend It?

[ThunderBlade + 231]

Major oil companies' earnings are surging thanks to higher crude prices. But, company bosses are vying to show the most monk-like devotion to austerity. Third-quarter earnings season started with Equinor ASA Chief Executive Officer Eldar Saetre’s promise to “take good care of our cash” even as profit rose to a four-year high. His counterpart at Total SA, rugby fan Patrick Pouyanne, gave a stout commitment to “resolutely” cut costs. Staying “laser-focused on discipline” was ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance’s principal vocation. Oil companies “want new projects to be resilient, because oil prices will fall back as it’s a cyclical market,” said Ahmed Ben Salem, an analyst at Oddo Bhf in Paris. “They want to reassure investors, who remain wary that risks of rising capex would jeopardize share buybacks.” Oil bosses are also keen to avoid falling into the cost inflation trap that often accompanies recovering prices. “This is really a sweet spot for integrated oil,” said Alessandro Pozzi, an analyst at Mediobanca SpA in London. “They are all likely to increase shareholders returns through higher dividends and buy-backs in the coming quarters. 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-10-26/big-oil-is-rolling-in-cash-so-why-don-t-ceos-want-to-spend-it

[50 shades of black + 254]

Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin don't think about that where to spend a money - money goes to Kremlin  But, he warned that "Sanctions, imposed by Washington against Russia and other countries, are nothing but an attempt to promote US companies in energy and other global markets". According to him, the US “gets used to the role of the regulator of the world oil market,” by replacing OPEC with the “US-PEC.” 

[damirUSBiH + 327]

11 minutes ago, 50 shades of black said:

Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin don't think about that where to spend a money - money goes to Kremlin  But, he warned that "Sanctions, imposed by Washington against Russia and other countries, are nothing but an attempt to promote US companies in energy and other global markets". According to him, the US “gets used to the role of the regulator of the world oil market,” by replacing OPEC with the “US-PEC.” 

Igor Sechin is a second name for bribe and corruption. But in Russia it is a virtue, not a flaw.
https://www.ft.com/content/d9619e02-e17c-11e7-a8a4-0a1e63a52f9c

[pinto + 293]

11 minutes ago, damirUSBiH said:

Igor Sechin is a second name for bribe and corruption. But in Russia it is a virtue, not a flaw.
https://www.ft.com/content/d9619e02-e17c-11e7-a8a4-0a1e63a52f9c

Yep. So, Russia's ex-minister of economy sentenced to 8 years, now he's somewhere in Sibir, while Sechin speaks about morality and US supremacy in oil sector....