The energy sector isn’t particularly known for its big dividends. Outside from a few of the major oil firms like Exxon (XOM ), high CAPEX spending requirements don’t exactly leave much excess cash for paying dividends. That’s been especially true for the downstream players. The refiners of crude oil have been particularly constrained in their ability to pay dividends over the course of their histories. The combination of high oil prices and high cost of production have simply made it impossible for them to pay any sort of meaningful yield.
That is, until a few years ago.
The sheer glut of cheaply fracked oil and changes to their business models have the refiners producing record cash flows. Cash flows that that been sharing with their investors in spades. What’s even better is that the trend doesn’t look like just some passing fad.
For dividend seekers, the refiners are starting to look very good indeed.
