据能源之声网站1月28日报道 埃克森美孚保持了标普500指数的第三大派息公司地位，此前大宗商品价格今年的上涨缓解了分析师对派息变得难以承受的担忧。
总部位于德克萨斯州欧文市的埃克森美孚公司在周三的一份声明中称，埃克森美孚第一季度的股息将为每股87美分，与之前七次派息的水平持平。这一决定意味着，埃克森美孚目前仍然是美国企业界的“股息贵族”之一，被确定为25年或更长时间内一直增加股东分配的公司。
这家石油巨头去年暴跌41%，是至少40年来最糟糕的年度表现，这让一些分析师猜测，这笔支出变得过于昂贵。埃克森美孚过去八个季度的现金流太少，无法支付股息和资本支出，导致债务大幅增加。
高管们誓言要捍卫这一支出计划，并在2025年之前每年削减约100亿美元的资本支出计划，以支持这一目标。在疫苗推出的刺激下，近几周原油价格和炼油利润率的上涨，也应该会缓解埃克森美孚近期的现金短缺。
王磊 摘译自 能源之声
原文如下：
Exxon maintains dividend as oil rally expected to boost cash
Exxon Mobil Corp. kept the S&P 500 Index’s third-largest dividend after this year’s rally in commodity prices eased analysts’ fears that the payout was becoming unaffordable.
The Exxon first-quarter dividend will be 87 cents a share, the same level as the previous seven payouts, the Irving, Texas-based company said in a statement The oil giant’s precipitous 41% drop last year, the worst annual performance in at least four decades, led some analysts to speculate that the payout was becoming too expensive. Exxon cash flow has been too small to cover its dividend and capital spending for the past eight quarters, leading to a dramatic increase in debt.
Executives have vowed to defend the payout and reduced capital spending plans by about $10 billion a year to 2025 to support this goal. A rally in crude prices and refining margins in recent weeks, spurred by the Covid-19 vaccine rollout, should also ease Exxon’s near-term cash shortfalls.
