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TotalEnergies’ profits jumped almost a third in the first quarter as the Iran war pushed oil prices higher and created volatility that drove strong revenues in its trading business.
The French oil major managed to increase production outside the Gulf, with projects starting in Brazil and Libya, helping make up for shutdowns of some of its operations in the Middle East.
The group is more directly exposed to the conflict than some peers, with 15 per cent of its oil and gas production in the region taken out of operation.
Adjusted net profit hit $5.4bn for the first quarter, up 29 per cent on a year earlier and ahead of analyst forecasts.
Chief executive Patrick Pouyanné said the group was increasing shareholder payouts, lifting its interim dividend to €0.90 per share from €0.85 previously. He also announced stock buybacks of up to $1.5bn in the second quarter, up from $750mn in the previous three months.
That was at the highest range of buyback guidance given last September, when Total and other majors scaled back investment plans and signalled they were lowering returns to investors when crude oil prices were much weaker.
Analysts had suggested Total could go even further, given its forecasts were based on oil prices at $60-$70 a barrel. They have now surged beyond $100.
“It is clear that there is further upside into the second half of 2026,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Biraj Borkhataria said in a note.
Total shares were up 0.7 per cent in early trading in Paris.
Total said it expected energy prices to remain high.
“Given the time required to restart production facilities in the Middle East (two to three months), prices should remain at high levels during the second quarter,” it said in a statement.
“Competition between liquefied natural gas demand in Europe to replenish storage and in Asia for the warm season should support prices in the coming months.”
The FT reported previously that Total had made bumper profits of more than $1bn from trading after it dominated the Middle East’s physical oil markets in March, when it bought up every cargo of crude produced in the United Arab Emirates and Oman to load in May.
The company did not break out the trading gains but said “crude oil and petroleum products trading activities . . . achieved a very strong performance in March”.
Net income in Total’s refining and chemicals unit, part of the downstream activities that also include oil products trading, was up more than fivefold from a year earlier to $1.6bn.
Total said it had also been boosted by higher “LNG production and trading activities capturing market volatility”.
The group said its oil and gas production would rise another 4 per cent year on year in the second quarter, outside its affected Middle East operations.
Total has now restarted the construction of a major $20bn liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique, which had been halted by a terrorist attack, although gas shipments from the development are not scheduled to start until at least 2029.
