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All of the most recent updates on fossil fuel industry bailouts.

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Big Oil's Wartime Buyback Bonanza

Amid high gas prices and war in recent months, the US's largest oil and gas companies have seen profits soar. These 20 companies, who received billions in taxpayer dollars during the coronavirus crisis, are using windfall profits to buyback billions of dollar worth of shares to enrich shareholders and executives. In the first five months of 2022, eight companies authorized plans to buy back and retire $46 billion in stock — a 116% increase over the $21.2 billion in buybacks authorized throughout all of 2021. A full $36 billion of those buyback authorizations came since the start of February 2022, as Russian preparations for their eventual invasion of Ukraine sent oil prices skyrocketing.

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Graph showing dividend increases year over year from Q1 2021 to Q1 2022 for the 20 largest U.S. oil and gas companies.

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Big Oil's Wartime Dividend Bump to Wall Street

Amid high gas prices and war in recent month, the US's largest oil and gas companies have seen profits soar. These 20 companies, who received billions in taxpayer dollars during the coronavirus crisis, are passing newfound profits off to Wall Street in the form of massive dividend payouts. Eighteen of the companies reviewed in the report linked below increased their dividends in the past year. Eleven of the companies increased their payouts by at least 100%, some from zero, since the first quarter of 2021. On top of record quarterly dividend payouts, five of the company's past further profits onto shareholders in the form of variable dividends.

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