TotalEnergies (NYSE: TTE) announced disappointing third-quarter earnings, missing expectations due to weak refining margins, lower LNG production, and declining oil prices.
The company reported an adjusted net income of $4.1 billion for the third quarter, a 13% decline from the previous quarter and down from $6.45 billion a year earlier. This profit represents TotalEnergies’s lowest quarterly earnings in three years, falling short of the analyst estimate of $4.27 billion. In response to the results, TotalEnergies shares fell by 2.5% in Paris and by 1.5% in pre-market trading in New York.
Weak refining margins were the primary cause of the earnings decline. Lower oil prices and unplanned production outages in Libya and the Ichthys LNG project in Australia negatively affected TotalEnergies’s downstream business.
The company’s average oil and gas production for the third quarter of 2024 was 2.409 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boepd), down 1% from the previous quarter. This decline was partly due to unplanned shutdowns and security-related disruptions.
While other European supermajors, like BP and Shell, exceeded expectations, TotalEnergies highlighted a 66% drop in refining margins in Europe. CEO Patrick Pouyanné noted that marketing and trading activities helped offset some losses.
Despite the earnings decline, TotalEnergies plans to continue its share buyback program, announcing $2 billion in repurchases for the fourth quarter and reaffirming its 2024 net investment guidance of $17 billion to $18 billion.
Story via OilPrice.com