مدفوعات مساهمي شركات النفط الكبرى تحت الضغط

Oil Majors' Shareholder Payouts Under Pressure Oil majors continue to publish their Q4 2025 results, with UK-based energy giant Shell joining the ranks of those that missed fourth-quarter expectations by reporting an 11% decline in profits (at $3.3 billion). Whilst Norway’s state oil firm Equinor cut its buyback programme by 70% and cut 2026 capital expenditures, more investor-exposed majors prefer to keep their shareholder payouts unchanged. Shell has bought back a quarter of its stock over the past four years, totalling some $60 billion, with $14 billion purchased last year.Worryingly for Shell, its reserve life fell to 7.8 years as of end-2025, from 8.9 years in 2024, getting dangerously close to BP’s low of 7 years. The resource strain might be one of the main drivers behind Shell’s stated interest in Venezuelan hydrocarbons, particularly multi-billion-dollar offshore gas projects. Cold Snap, Hot Demand: U.S. Gas Inventories Drop a Record 360 bcf The Arctic blast that swept through most of the United States’ eastern and southern states prompted the highest ever weekly natural gas inventory draw, with the EIA reporting a whopping 360 bcf drop in the week ending January 30. Following the massive stock draw, US gas stockpiles are now 1% below the 5-year average at 2.46 Tcf, even though they were 5% higher than the same 5-year average the week before. The severe weather choked off 18% of US natural gas production as water froze in wellheads, all the while power generation…