This High-Yield Oil Giant Could Offer Retirees Sustainable Income

Integrated oil and natural gas giant Royal Dutch Shell plc (NYSE: RDS-B) is making impressive progress as it comes back from the worst of the oil downturn that started in mid-2014. It's not only making notable progress on the balance sheet, but it's also improving the returns it's getting on its shareholders' money. If you are a retiree looking for sustainable income, Shell and its 6% yield could be just what you're looking for.

One of the big problems for Shell today is debt. At the end of 2014, long-term debt stood at roughly $38 billion. Debt peaked at nearly $87 billion in the third quarter of 2016. Some of that was related to the energy downturn, during which oil companies used their balance sheets to support capital spending and dividends. For example, ExxonMobil's (NYSE: XOM) long-term debt load rose from $11.6 billion at the end of 2014 to a high of nearly $30 billion in early 2016.

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Source: Fool.com