Shell, TotalEnergies and Repsol raised shareholder payouts on Thursday as the Iran war pushed their profits towards levels last seen in 2022. Crude prices, meanwhile, fell after US Vice President JD Vance moved to restart peace talks with Iran.
Shell raised its quarterly share buyback programme from $3bn to $5bn on Thursday, as the turbulence from the Iran war helped drive profits at three of Europe's largest oil companies towards levels last seen in 2022. TotalEnergies and Repsol also pledged higher dividends and buybacks.
Shell posts its second-highest adjusted earnings on record
Shell reported adjusted earnings of $10.8bn in the third quarter, its second highest on record and above the consensus forecast of $10.3bn. Profits rose despite slightly lower oil prices than in the previous quarter, because the price of refined fuels such as diesel soared.
Its refining margin climbed from $24 in the second quarter to a record high of $42. Chief executive Wael Sawan praised the results as coming at a time of "severe disruption to the global energy system".
TotalEnergies and Repsol raise payouts
TotalEnergies raised its dividend by 6% year on year and lifted buybacks from $1.5bn to $2.5bn for each of the next two quarters. Repsol announced €950mn in new buybacks and raised its dividend by 8% compared with last year.
Shell shares rose 3% on Thursday, while TotalEnergies fell 4%.
Crude slips as Vance reaches out to Iran
Meanwhile, crude oil prices gave up some of their gains from earlier this week after Vance contacted the secretary of the Iranian Supreme National Security Council. Brent was trading at $114.14 per barrel and West Texas Intermediate at $101.45, both down from Wednesday but still significantly higher than at the start of October.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Vance had written to Mohsen Rezaei to discuss a peace deal, following President Trump's threat to restart hostilities against Iran after the November 3 midterm elections. Qatari mediators also presented a new draft peace deal to Iran this week, according to Reuters, and Iran said its conditions must be met for peace to be sealed.
Sources: Financial Times, Investing.com
Trading involves risk.
Risk Disclaimer
