More than a dozen American and European oil and gas companies have significantly cut their dividends due to falling oil prices, leaving their shareholders with a loss of more than $7.4 billion in 2016.

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Due to falling energy prices, shareholders of oil and gas companies will lose more than $7.4 billion in dividends this year. At least ten such companies have decided to cut them, reports Bloomberg . Earlier, the agency wrote that due to low quotes, the crisis will cost the industry a total of $100 billion in lost investments and tens of thousands of jobs.

North America's largest pipeline and transport terminal network operator, Kinder Morgan, cut its dividends the most - by 75%, by $3.44 billion. According to the company's founder and chairman of the board of directors, Richard Kinder, this decision shocked some. Kinder Morgan was forced to do this to maintain its investment rating and ensure stable debt service.

Similar arguments were made by Conoco Phillips ($2.42 billion, or more than 65%) and Anadarko Petroleum ($447 million, or more than 80%). Examples include Marathon Oil, Eni SpA, Chesapeake Energy and Transocean, which cut dividends in 2015 as the industry braced for what would likely be the worst price collapse in decades, the agency notes.

Spain's largest oil company Repsol SA cut its dividend for the first time in seven years after posting a net loss in the fourth quarter of last year. Norwegian Statoil maintained dividends at the current level, but in February paid them not in cash, but in its shares.

Canadian oil and gas companies Crescent Point Energy, Cenovus Energy and Husky Energy have reduced payments. The latter paid dividends for 2015 in securities, and this year its shareholders will receive nothing. “The board of directors will continue to calculate dividends on a quarterly basis with the goal of restoring long-term payments,” told Bloomberg . Husky spokeswoman Kim Gattormson

In 2016, the American Cimarex Energy, Devon Energy, Noble Energy and Range Resources, as well as the British Amec Foster Wheeler, which provides consulting, engineering and management services in the oil and gas sector, cut their dividends.

As Edward Jones & Co analyst Brian Youngberg suggests, small or newly founded companies, such as Cimarex or Range Resources, which cut their dividends in half, may have an easier decision than large ones: investors are primarily counting on the development of these companies and the growth of their shares in the future. . While they view investing in large companies, such as Chevron or ConocoPhillips, as a guarantee of stable income. Therefore, for large companies, dividend cuts are more painful. “[Large companies] are high-yielding assets. These guys know why investors buy their shares,” he says.

On March 8, Chevron said it intends to cut spending on new projects by 26% in 2017-2018 and may increase borrowing to maintain its dividend of $1.07 per share. “We have a base of shareholders who value current income,” the agency quotes the company’s CEO and chairman of the board of directors, John Watson, as saying. — This is our traditional shareholder base. They value consistency."

Even if oil prices go up, companies will not immediately decide to restore their previous dividend levels. They may continue to focus on paying down debt and accumulating cash reserves to avoid another financial crisis, Dividend Investor editor and investment strategist Josh Peters told Bloomberg . “It may be many years before we see any significant dividend growth,” he said. “It’s hard to call a truly traditional and sustainable investment in a business that can’t control the price of its own product.”

Shareholders of oil and gas companies in the US and Europe will lose $7.4 billion