TotalEnergies (NYSE: TTE) raised interim dividend and expanded share buybacks after reporting on Thursday more than doubled net income for the second quarter, on the back of rallying oil and gas prices, record-high refining margins, and soaring LNG demand in Europe.
The French supermajor booked a net income of $5.7 billion for the second quarter, which was 2.6 times higher than the income for the same period of 2021. Adjusted net income per share surged nearly threefold year over year to $3.75, beating the analyst consensus of $3.69 per-share earnings.
Cash flow from operations more than doubled to $16.3 billion for the second quarter compared to the same quarter last year.
"Russia's invasion of Ukraine continued to impact energy markets in the second quarter, with oil prices averaging more than $110/bbl in the quarter, refining margins reaching record-high levels, and natural gas prices holding above oil parity in Europe and Asia," TotalEnergies' chief executive Patrick Pouyanné said, commenting on the results.
The supermajor's LNG sales rose to more than 25 Mt in the first half of 2022, with 60% in Europe, and TotalEnergies' refineries raised their utilization rate to nearly 90%, Pouyanné added.
"Downstream benefited from exceptionally high refining margins on distillates and gasoline to report adjusted net operating income of $3.2 billion, up sharply over the quarter, and cash flow of $3.5 billion," the executive noted.
In light of the robust Q2 results, TotalEnergies' Board of Directors approved the distribution of the 2022 second interim dividend of €0.69/share, up 5% year-on-year, and authorized the company to continue share buybacks of up to $2 billion in the third quarter.
Another European major, Shell (NYSE: SHEL), also reported exceptionally strong results on Thursday, posting another record quarterly earnings-its second quarter in a row of record profits-and announcing a share buyback program of $6 billion. These share repurchases will add to the $8.5 billion buyback program for the first half of 2022, which Shell completed in early July.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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