Big Oil faces pressure from shareholders over costs

LONDON/HOUSTON (Reuters) - Oil industry shareholders concerned about poor returns and costly projects urged executives from Big Oil this week to return cash to shareholders - and at least one of the world's top five petroleum companies fully acquiesced. As they posted third-quarter results, the leading oil companies vowed to control spending and to put cash in the pockets of investors through asset sales, share buybacks or dividends while analysts grumbled about lagging stock prices. BP Plc (LSE:BP.), the smallest of the group of five, was the most aggressive. It raised its dividend, cut back capital spending plans, and ramped up its asset sales target to $10 billion over the next two years from between $4 billion and $6 billion previously - cash that will also go back to shareholders.

via Business News - Yahoo Finance http://finance.yahoo.com/news/shareholder-power-dominates-big-oil-135405481.html