The high revenues of oil companies allow the proceeds of their shareholders to bubble up.
According to an analysis by the London-based investment company Janus Henderson, oil producers around the world paid out dividends of 46.4 billion US dollars (44.7 billion euros) in the third quarter. That is an increase of more than three quarters compared to the same period last year.
Energy giants such as BP, Saudi Aramco and Shell recently reported billions in profits due to the rise in oil and gas prices as a result of the Ukraine war. However, in times of rising living costs, dissatisfaction in society and politics with the high income grows.
Although payouts from mining companies fell, oil companies also increased dividend payments worldwide, by 10.3 percent to $416 billion. That was a record for a third quarter, they said. 90 percent of the companies would have increased their dividends or kept them the same. For the full year, the company now expects a global payout of $1.6 trillion.
However, Janus Henderson expert Jane Shoemake sees an end to the dividend boom. “Like other commodities, energy prices are cyclical and oil prices are already below where they were at the beginning of the year, so the current exceptional levels of payouts are unlikely to last,” Shoemake said. Slower economic growth is likely to impact earnings in 2023, and with it the ability of some companies to increase payouts.