It echoes similar moves by its peers – BP has completely suspended buybacks, and Equinor has reduced them by 70%
Published Wed, Feb 11, 2026 · 11:45 PM
[PARIS] TotalEnergies will halve share buybacks in the first quarter, it said on Wednesday (Feb 11), as low oil and gas prices negated soaring fourth-quarter profit from refining fuels and proceeds from renewable assets stake sales.
The French oil major’s fourth-quarter adjusted net income fell to US$3.8 billion from US$4.4 billion for the corresponding year-ago period. Analysts had expected US$3.9 billion, a consensus compiled by the London Stock Exchange Group said.
The company will reduce its first-quarter buyback to US$750 million worth of shares, echoing similar moves by its peers – BP completely suspended buybacks, and Equinor reduced them by 70 per cent.
“We agreed to start at US$750 million, the lower tranche of the buyback range we guided in September. That way, we can adjust upward if market conditions favour it,” CEO Patrick Pouyanne said on Wednesday.
TotalEnergies’ shares were up by 2 per cent at 0943 GMT.
It had kept buybacks at US$2 billion a quarter since mid-2022, when Brent crude prices peaked above US$100 a barrel, and repurchased US$1.5 billion in shares in the fourth quarter.
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Rivals Exxon and Shell have held firm on their buyback programmes.
TotalEnergies takes cautious approach amid depressed prices
“We think caution is the right approach,” Royal Bank of Canada analysts said in a note, adding that given current prices, an “upside” to this could be expected throughout the year.
TotalEnergies said it ramped up oil and gas production in the fourth quarter to compensate for a 15 per cent drop in Brent crude prices and an 18 per cent drop in liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices, it said.
Production rose by 5 per cent in the quarter, but income from the exploration segment still fell by 21.6 per cent to US$1.8 billion.
Earnings for the refining and chemicals business, however, surged by 215 per cent, reaching US$1 billion.
TotalEnergies previously said margins at European refineries during the period jumped 231 per cent, compared with the year-ago period.
Pouyanne had attributed that increase to US sanctions on Russia’s Rosneft and Lukoil, as well as a European Union import ban on fuels derived from Russian oil.
On Wednesday, he said an EU ban on Russian gas imports by the end of 2027 is also supporting LNG demand, with European purchases absorbing the rising global supply so far. REUTERS
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