The world’s six largest publicly traded oil and gas companies, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell, Total SE, ConocoPhillips, and BP put the “BIG” in Big Oil. When the COVID-19 pandemic made the whole world grind to a halt, the demand shock caused oil prices to temporarily drop to $0 per barrel and as a result, the companies reported combined losses of $79.9 billion in 2020. Almost two years after the pandemic first started, Big Oil reported total annual profits of $90.4 billion for 2021, fully recovered from the effects of the pandemic thanks to soaring oil and gas prices. In fact, from 1990 to 2021, 2020 is the only year that six companies reported combined losses. Strong oil and gas prices also resulted in strong cash flow in 2021 for these six companies, all of which are funneling money to investors either through dividends or share buybacks.

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