https://www.investopedia.com/articles/active-trading/073015/dividend-versus-buyback-which-better.asp claims “Although dividend payments are discretionary for a dividend-paying company, reducing or eliminating dividends is not viewed favorably by investors. The result could lead to shareholders selling their shareholdings en masse if the dividend is reduced, suspended or eliminated.”

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/big-oil-big-crisis-save-204611096.html?.tsrc=rss says

A Janus Henderson researcher said “At some point though, borrowing to pay the dividend is not sustainable…. Nobody wants to be the CEO who cuts the dividend. They understand that any company that cuts, its shareholders will flow into competitors and be very, very hesitant to ever come back.”

Shell, Chevron, and Total may also choose to save money for dividends by reducing their share-buyback programs, which are typically seen by investors as more discretionary than the quarterly cash payouts.

GS research said “In past oil downturns, Big Oil on aggregate did not respond to challenging macro conditions through material dividend cuts,”

As of Oct 2020, BP, Shell … all cut dividends, but XOM bucked the trend