Poster and logo on the Coupole Tower, compagny Total’s head office renamed TotalEnergies in 2021 in the La Defense business district west of Paris in Courbevoie, France on 7 June 2024.
Antoine Boureau | Afp | Getty Images
French oil major TotalEnergies on Wednesday reported a sharp drop in full-year earnings, against a backdrop of lower crude prices and weak fuel demand.
The oil and gas giant posted full-year 2024 adjusted net income of $18.3 billion, reflecting a 21% fall from $23.2 billion a year earlier.
Analysts had expected TotalEnergies’ full-year 2024 adjusted net income to come in at $18.2 billion, according to an LSEG-compiled consensus.
The energy major reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter adjusted net income of $4.4 billion, an 8% increase on the previous quarter.
TotalEnergies said it was able to close out the year on a positive note thanks to a strong performance in integrated liquefied natural gas and integrated power.
The results buck a trend of consecutive quarterly losses. TotalEnergies’ adjusted net income had dropped for five straight quarters to notch a three-year low in September last year.
In a trading update published last month, TotalEnergies said its fourth-quarter results would likely benefit from a slight increase in hydrocarbon production, stronger gas trading and a modest increase in refining margins.
TotalEnergies announced a 7% increase in the 2024 dividend to 3.22 euros ($3.35) per share and said it will target $2 billion of share buybacks per quarter in 2025.
The company said it expects higher gas prices and robust hydrocarbon production in the first three months of 2025.
Paris-listed shares of TotalEnergies are up around 6.8% year-to-date.
The world’s top oil and gas companies have seen profits fall from record levels in 2022, when Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine prompted international benchmark Brent crude to jump to nearly $140 per barrel.
Oil prices have since cooled amid faltering global demand, with Brent crude futures averaging $80 per barrel in 2024 — about $2 per barrel less than during the previous year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Energy giants have reported mixed fourth-quarter and full-year results amid weaker refining margins and lower crude prices.
U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil beat Wall Street’s estimate for fourth-quarter profit last week, while U.S. oil producer Chevron and Britain’s Shell both missed analyst forecasts.
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