A plan to invest between $17 and $18 billion in 2024 was disclosed by TotalEnergies.
Furthermore, the oil company planned to invest almost $5 billion to expand its power division.
This comes after it revealed that first-quarter profit declined less than anticipated, partially offset by reduced gas prices and a robust oil market.
The European gas market is weakening due to a mild winter that has reduced demand for heating, and the French behemoth is the latest energy business to face the effects.
Meanwhile, the Middle East’s wars and OPEC+ supply limitations have supported crude prices, which has padded Big Oil’s earnings.
The earnings, according to TotalEnergies Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne, “reflect a context of sustained oil prices and refining margins but softening gas prices.”
The company reported on Friday that adjusted net income for the period was $5.11 billion, compared to $6.54 billion a year earlier. Analysts had projected a $5.0 billion profit.
For this fiscal year, the business declared an interim dividend of 79 euro cents per share, which is in line with forecasts and represents an increase of over 7%. Consistent with the first-quarter figure, it plans to repurchase an additional $2 billion of its shares in the second quarter.
Early Paris trade saw minimal movement in the stock, which has gained 11% so far this year.
Due to decreased demand in Europe, sales of LNG, one of the company’s main emphasis areas, decreased 3% from a year ago. Total anticipates that next winter’s prices would rise by about a quarter due to a recovery in Asian consumption.
Production in the hydrocarbon division fell 2% year over year to 2.46 million barrels of oil equivalent per day as the sale of its Canadian oil sands assets was nearly offset by the initiation of projects in Brazil and Nigeria.
Weaker refining margins hurt downstream operations, while the power division saw higher profits as a result of the company’s addition of gas-fired power facilities in Texas and renewable capacity in the US and India.