Big Oil on course for near-record $38bn in share buybacks

Western energy majors are on course to buy back shares at near record levels this year as soaring oil and gas prices enable them to deliver bumper profits and boost returns for investors.

According to data from Bernstein Research, the seven supermajors — including $BP PLC (BP.US)$, $Shell (SHEL.US)$, $Exxon Mobil (XOM.US)$ and $Chevron (CVX.US)$ — are poised to return $38bn to shareholders through buyback programs this year.

Investment bank RBC Capital Markets puts the total figure higher at $41bn. That would be almost double the $21bn in buybacks completed in 2014 — when oil last traded above $100 a barrel — and the biggest total since 2008.