PARIS (Reuters) – TotalEnergies announced a new share buyback program on Thursday after posting a jump in its results in the second quarter of 2022, once again boosted by the sharp rise in the price of hydrocarbons against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.
The oil group, which is developing at a sustained pace in renewable energies and electricity, said in a statement that it was targeting up to $2 billion in share buybacks for the third quarter, after $3 billion in the third quarter. first semester.
Its CEO, Patrick Pouyanné, then clarified during a conference call with analysts that the total amount would reach at least 7 billion euros over the whole year. He also said the group would not lower its dividend even in the event of a recession in 2023.
Around 3:40 p.m., the TotalEnergies share lost around 2.0%, however, while the CAC 40 gained 0.81%. “Share buybacks remain unchanged at $2 billion in the third quarter despite improved cash flow generation,” said Giacomo Romeo, an analyst at Jefferies, who forecast a 50% increase in the amount of buybacks. of shares.
While it remains present in Russia, notably through the Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG liquefied natural gas (LNG) assets or projects and a 19.4% stake in Novatek, TotalEnergies also had to book a provision of 3.5 billion dollars linked mainly to the potential impact of international sanctions on the value of its shares in the Russian gas group.
Its CEO, however, announced to analysts that the annual presentation of TotalEnergies’ strategy to investors in September would no longer include Russia.
“ENVISAGE THE FUTURE OF TOTALENERGIES WITHOUT RUSSIA”
“We want you to consider the future of TotalEnergies without Russia (…). There will be an impact on volumes but not really a financial impact on performance and the return to shareholders will not be affected”, has explained Patrick Pouyanné.
The group also underlined that, due to the limited additional production and refining capacities that can be mobilized at the global level and the disturbances on the markets linked to the sanctions against Russia and the counter-sanctions thereof, “the balance offers – demand from the energy markets should remain fragile and support prices, particularly gas”.
TotalEnergies also highlighted the mobilization of its human and financial resources to “contribute to the diversification of Europe’s gas supply by maximizing the use of its LNG regasification capacity”.
It anticipates that its average LNG selling price should exceed $15 per million British thermal units (Mbtu) in the third quarter, compared to $13.8 in the first half, but recalls that its LNG activities will be affected by the unavailability from the American plant of Freeport LNG.
The group is also counting on stable production in the third quarter and wants to maintain a high utilization rate in its refining activity.
TotalEnergies posted second-quarter adjusted net income of $9.8 billion (down from $3.5 billion in Q2 2021) while analysts on average were expecting $9.9 billion, according to Refinitiv data.
Adjusted EBITDA stood at 18.7 billion dollars (against 8.7 billion) and gross cash flow at 13.2 billion (multiplied by two), with stable hydrocarbon production of 2.738 million barrels per day (Mb/d).
TotalEnergies also confirmed the 5% increase in its interim dividends for 2022 by proposing an amount of 0.69 euros per share for the second quarter, in line with its increase policy presented in February, and specified that its net investments should be around 16 billion dollars this year, of which 25% will be devoted to renewable energies and electricity.
(Report Benjamin Mallet; with Shadia Nasralla in London, edited by Nicolas Delame and Sophie Louet)