Big Oil’s Burden of Too Much Cash

…….But even as fears of shortages grow throughout the world and prices remain high, the cash-rich oil companies are not pouring a large portion of their money into their basic business: drilling for oil. Indeed, oil executives, in their second straight year of rising profits, are finding that too much money is chasing too few oil fields. Instead, they are giving much of their cash back to shareholders.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/12/business/12oil.html?ex=1108875600&en=c63fd16197d688d7&ei=5070