EXECS OF FAILED DRILLERS GOT US$199 MILLION IN CASH

The oil and gas explorers they managed went under, but they walked out with US$199 million in cash. That's how much 76 executives behind the 25 largest U.S. oil and gas bankruptcies between 2018-20 received in bonuses, retention payments and severance, advocacy group Public Citizen said in a report Thursday. Meanwhile, more than 10,000 of their employees lost their jobs. The shale boom that made the U.S. the world's largest oil producer was bankrolled by hundreds of billions of dollars in debt. Two market crashes since 2014 put scores of producers under. “The fossil fuel industry has been a poster child for ill-conceived corporate welfare for decades, benefiting from numerous subsidies, tax breaks and regulatory favours,” Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, said in a statement.