PARIS (Reuters) – TotalEnergies published declining results for the third quarter of 2023 on Thursday but confirmed the increase in its dividends and share buybacks, in a context of geopolitical tensions which keep oil prices at high levels.
The oil and gas group, also very present in renewable energies, still plans share buybacks of around 3 billion dollars in the last quarter, after 6.1 billion at the end of September.
It also announced in a press release an interim dividend of 0.74 euros per share for the third quarter (+7.25%) and indicated that its distribution rate stood at nearly 43% at the end of September, in line with its new forecast of more than 40%.
TotalEnergies stressed that oil prices remained high at the start of the fourth quarter, around $90 per barrel, “supported by the action of OPEC+ countries in a tense geopolitical context”, while the conflict between Israel and Hamas makes flows from the Middle East uncertain.
The group also mentioned gas prices “very responsive to production interruptions” as winter approaches, despite a high level of storage in Europe, “in a tense market”.
TotalEnergies recorded an adjusted net profit of $6.5 billion for the July-September period, down 35% compared to the record of $9.9 billion for the third quarter of 2022, as well as an adjusted Ebitda of 13.1 billion (-33%).
According to a consensus established by Eikon Refinitiv, analysts on average expected adjusted net income of $6.4 billion.
Production at the same time stood at 2.476 million barrels per day (+5% excluding Novatek), with the group anticipating a level of 2.4 to 2.5 million in the fourth quarter.
TotalEnergies’ electricity production and sales activities recorded, for the first time, adjusted net operating income and cash flow above $500 million, driven by the increase in installed capacity.
TotalEnergies plans to receive the proceeds from the sale of its Canadian assets in the fourth quarter, which would bring its debt ratio below 8%, compared to 12.3% at the end of September, and still expects annual net investments of between 16 and 17 billions of dollars.
The group also announced on Thursday the commissioning of its floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) import terminal located at the port of Le Havre, which injected its first megawatt-hours of gas into the network operated by GRTgaz using LNG from from Norway.
(Reporting by Benjamin Mallet and Forrest Crellin; edited by Blandine Hénault)
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