French oil major TotalEnergies reported a 127% rise in third-quarter earnings on Thursday, beating expectations, as the US-Israeli war with Iran continues to push up oil prices and draw historically high profit margins for refining fuels.
Adjusted net income came in at $9.1 billion in the July-September period, more than double the $4.0 billion posted a year ago, and above the $8.3 billion expected on average by 12 analysts polled by LSEG.
The group's refining and chemicals division reported a record quarter, posting net income of $3.6 billion, doubling from a year ago, as it profited from tight global supply of oil products following the Iran war.
"The increase of nearly 10% refining throughput enabled the company to fully capture historically high refining margins in Europe and worldwide, while oil trading activities outperformed at a level comparable with the two previous quarters," CEO Patrick Pouyanne said in a statement.
The LNG unit also saw income surge to $1.9 billion, thanks to average gas prices that are up 20% and strong performance of LNG and gas trading activities in a bull market, said the company.
It reiterated plans for share buybacks of $2.5 billion for the fourth quarter, and said it would buy back another $2.5 billion in the first quarter of 2027, at the top end of guidance issued last month.
(Reuters - Reporting by Dimitri Rhodes in Gdansk. Editing by Dominique Patton)