RE:Robbing the Shareholders of a Meaningful DividendYour ranting is mostly annoying and your first paragraph is just flat out wrong.
However, you have one phrase in your diatribe that alludes to the reason for the share price woes of most of the O&G co's.
"A plan that generated a return on all the stranded infastructure" is the critical piece.
So why plan to invest in more? Just MAINTAIN and allocate the capital to where the growth will be. If the world gets to the point where its on its knees due to lack of oil and gas and sentiment has shifted, you can reconsider.
These companies are ignored because they have no vision beyond a drilling rig and a piece of pipe. Their financial mantra "reduce debt, increase return to shareholders through buybacks and dividends" echoes like a herd of zombies on post-apocalyptic streets. They are so stragetically uncreative, so arrogant to believe that opinion on their sector "will come around".
The O&G company that uses their cash to find a successful path forward in a post O&G world will be rewarded by shareholders.
And this from a guy who respects what the O&G industry has done for Canada.