Big Oil Choosing Stock Over Exploration

BusinessBig Oil Choosing Stock Over ExplorationBig Oil Choosing Stock Over ExplorationThe Associated PressEasy oil is gone, gasoline and oil prices have hit unimaginable heights and energy prices are a leading contributor to slowing global growth, so Big Oil must be devoting more and more money to exploration, right? Not so. (July 21)With fuel prices hitting unimaginable heights and the nation's oil giants preparing to report what are expected to be huge second-quarter profits, you may be asking yourself, "what are they doing with all that money?" According to researchers at Rice University, the bulk of that cash was not spent of exploration, but on stock buybacks and shareholder dividends. Rice's data show that Exxon Mobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Royal Dutch Shell and BP _ spent roughly 55 percent of their operating cash flow last year buying back shares and paying dividends. Meanwhile, the money they spent to find new deposits of fossil fuels has for several years remained relatively flat, with percentages in the mid-single digits.[Notes:SOT: Charles Sheehan, AP Energy Editor][Notes:Anchor Voice]If, as expected, the oil giants report eye-popping second-quarter earnings, those results will almost certainly lead to another public outcry, and perhaps another visit before Congress for the oil executives. ___ ___, The Associated Press.

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YouTube | July 21, 2008

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