Nov 3 (Reuters) - EOG Resources Inc and Coterra Energy Inc on Thursday became the latest oil and gas producers to post bumper quarterly profits and boost shareholder returns on the back of a rally in energy prices.
Western sanctions against major exporter Russia and OPEC+'s decision to curb supply in an already tight market have pushed energy prices to multi-year highs this year.
That helped EOG raise its quarterly dividend by 10% and declare a special dividend of $1.50 per share. Coterra pledged to return nearly a third of its free cash flow to shareholders and increased cash dividends by 5% from the prior quarter.
Hefty dividends and stellar earnings from U.S. oil majors have drawn the ire of President Joe Biden, who called their profits "a windfall of war" in Ukraine and threatened higher taxes if they do not boost production to ease the supply crunch.
Exxon Mobil and Chevron reported a surge in profits earlier this week, while ConocoPhillips raised its equity buyback plan to $45 billion after quarterly net income nearly doubled.
EOG said its average realized U.S. crude price rose 35% to $96.05 per barrel in the reported quarter. Production was up 8.9% at 919,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd).
The Houston-based company also announced a 395,000 net acre position in the Ohio Utica Shale basin.
Its net income came in at $2.84 billion, or $4.86 per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with $1.10 billion, or $1.88 per share, last year.
Coterra's quarterly profit jumped to $1.2 billion from last year's $64 million. (Reporting by Arunima Kumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
