re: Time to buy some XOM(Oil stock discussions)?

True enough. But that was a stock that's experienced a 75% + fall over a 12 month span. SDRL had significant fundamental problems, including cash flow, that the majors being discussed don't (yet) have. So yes, if the oil and commodities markets totally collapse, taking even the well capitalized majors along with them, no dividend would be safe. But I would have hit the sell button long before it ever got that bad anyway - the dividend is meaningless in the face of that.

IMO, the emphasis that the COP CEO (or CFO?) put on the dividend was a message to institutional investors as to their attitude. Having worked for a couple of Fortune 500 companies that went through tough times, the message is: "we'll chop heads, freeze salaries, reduce benefits and put grandma on a street corner before we cut or eliminate the dividend." But if/when the walls come down, they'll do what they have to do.