I have seen a few of these articles on Medium lately. Having worked in the petroleum industry for 12 years, I have yet to encounter any government giving any oil company a direct payment for producing oil. There are no subsidies from what I can see.

Of course, there are the externalities of the petroleum industry. Think BP Macondo. But these are not subsidies.

Then there are royalties government earn from oil/gas production. Governments can reduce royalties as a means to entice new wells being drilled, but these reductions are not subsidies.

And sometimes, governments do partner with oil companies to drill wells. But I wouldn't call these subsidies either.

And relaxing of regulations are also not a subsidy.

Not much gets done in the petroleum industry at a loss. If a geologist, engineer, or business analyst cannot show a profit for a project, it doesn't get done.

It's so easy to vilify the industry with subsidies, but I haven't seen facts to support this.