How Shell Is Spending More on Shareholders Than on Oil Production

Episode 29 of Energy Economics with Fexingo digs into a quiet but telling shift: Shell and other European majors are returning record cash to shareholders while barely growing oil output. With WTI crude at $96 a barrel—up 10% in a week—you'd expect big drilling plans. Instead, Shell's 2026 capital spending is flat, while buybacks hit $3.5 billion this quarter. Lucas and Luna explore what this says about the industry's long-term confidence, the pressure from activist investors, and whether the supermajors have quietly decided that the era of production growth is over. A focused look at one decision inside one company that reveals a structural change across Big Oil. #Shell #BigOil #ShareholderReturns #OilProduction #EnergyEconomics #Buybacks #CapitalDiscipline #EuropeanMajors #WTI #OilPrices #ActivistInvestors #EnergyTransition #Dividends #FexingoBusiness #BusinessPodcast #Economics #Finance #OilAndGas Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo