Timid oil giants hand back their cash

The world

Exxon, BP, Shell, Conoco Phillips, Total and Chevron have in the past 18 months, according to figures compiled by the investment bank Jefferies Broadview, spent $75 billion on share buybacks, which are designed to prop up share prices by reducing the amount traded in the market. That comes on top of $54 billion paid out in dividends over the same period.

To put that $130 billion into perspective, the combined market value of Britain