TotalEnergies SE (LON:TTE) reported a smaller-than-expected drop in first-quarter profit as a resilient oil market partly offset lower gas prices.
The French giant is the latest energy company to feel the effect of Europe’s weaker gas market, which has been pressured by a mild winter that curbed heating demand. Meanwhile, crude prices have been underpinned by supply curbs from OPEC+ and conflicts in the Middle East, cushioning Big Oil’s profits.
The earnings reflect “a context of sustained oil prices and refining margins but softening gas prices,” TotalEnergies Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said in a statement.
Adjusted net income was $5.11 billion in the period, down from $6.54 billion a year earlier, the company said on Friday. Analysts had expected profit of $5.0 billion.
The company announced an interim dividend of 79 euro cents per share for this fiscal year, an increase of almost 7% and in line with expectations. It will buy back a further $2 billion of its shares in the second quarter, in line with the first-quarter amount.
The stock was little changed in early Paris trading after gaining 11% this year.
Sales of liquefied natural gas, one of the firm’s focus areas, dropped 3% from a year earlier on lower demand in Europe. Total expects that a rebound in consumption in Asia will drive up prices by almost a quarter next winter.
In the hydrocarbon segment, production dropped 2% year-on-year to 2.46 million barrels of oil equivalent per day as the startups of projects in Brazil and Nigeria almost offset the sale of its Canadian oil sands assets.
Downstream operations came in lower because of weaker refining margins. But profit at the power business increased as the firm added renewable capacity in the US and India as well as gas-fired power plants in Texas.
It also reiterated a plan to invest $17 billion to $18 billion in 2024, including $5 billion in its power business.
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