News & Analysis
News and analysis from BailoutWatch on fossil fuel industry bailouts and related topics.
Methane Madness
How Eight Pending LNG Export Projects Threaten the Planet, and How President Biden Can Stop Them
Liquefied Natural Cash: How Methane Exports Reverse Climate Progress, Harm Consumers, and Endanger Communities
New long-term commitments to export methane gas, justified by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, lock in higher emissions, decimate frontline communities, and force higher energy costs on consumers.
Big Oil's Wartime Bonus: How Big Oil Turns Profits Into Wealth
Amid high gas prices and humanitarian crisis in Europe, the biggest US-based oil and gas companies plan to spend more than $45 billion buying back their own shares, enriching investors and insiders. They also boosted dividend payouts, some by extravagant amounts.
All-American Oligarchs: The Big Oil CEOs profiting from war in Ukraine
While claiming to be the heroes of energy independence, Big Oil CEOs are cashing out, selling nearly $100 million worth of shares as the Ukraine war began
Seeking answers about fossil fuels’ bailouts, lawmakers instead learn the philosophy of ‘life-giving and persecuted’ oil and gas
Fossil fuel CEOs refused to take lawmakers’ questions about how they spent their bailout billions. Instead, a philosopher called for the ‘liberation’ of coal, oil, and gas
Pay gap widened between oil CEOs and their workers last year, even after bailouts and layoffs
The fossil fuel industry defends its jobs record. But we found a dozen top oil and gas companies paying top executives more than 100 times the median worker’s salary while laying people off — even after collecting billions in public aid.
What fossil fuels really did with their bailouts
Our three-part analysis of 2020 annual reports and proxies found that oil, gas and coal companies received billions in bailout benefits, then paid off their shareholders and executives while laying off workers.
Fossil fuels used $100M tax bailouts to pay shareholders while slashing jobs
With oil and gas claiming they get “no special tax treatment,” new data show polluters with the biggest tax bailouts mostly used the money to increase payments to shareholders while eliminating jobs
Fossil fuel firms slashed nearly 60,000 jobs in 2020 while pocketing $8.2 billion tax bailout
As Washington weighs ending fossil fuel tax subsidies, oil and gas companies are quietly disclosing how many millions (or billions) they received from a pandemic tax break last year — and how many jobs they cut