Oil companies dig deep
With an eye on shareholders' returns, oil companies are reining in costs and increasing internally generated cash flows
While investment activity in the upstream oil and gas sector has improved this year, financing conditions have tightened slightly. Investors in the widely-watched US oil patch have become somewhat wary of financing production volume at the expense of shareholder value. Burnt during the oil-price crash that took prices from over $100 a barrel in mid-2014 to less than $30/b in early 2016, equity investors have shown only moderate enthusiasm for financing new production—even in a climate of oil-price recovery, ending the year around $60/b. Finance offerings in the US oil and gas sector, after a strong H1 2017, have slowed to a crawl. Total bond and equity offerings, including midstream and down
Also in this section
16 January 2026
The country’s global energy importance and domestic political fate are interlocked, highlighting its outsized oil and gas powers, and the heightened fallout risk
16 January 2026
The global maritime oil transport sector enters 2026 facing a rare convergence of crude oversupply, record newbuild deliveries and the potential easing of several geopolitical disruptions that have shaped trade flows since 2022
15 January 2026
Rebuilding industry, energy dominance and lower energy costs are key goals that remain at odds in 2026
14 January 2026
Chavez’s socialist reforms boosted state control but pushed knowledge and capital out of the sector, opening the way for the US shale revolution
