TotalEnergies SE (EU:TTE) saw its shares rise 2.7% on Wednesday after the French energy group announced higher-than-expected oil and gas production for the third quarter, along with a sharp improvement in refining margins.
The company now expects quarterly production to reach 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, up 4% year-on-year and ahead of its earlier forecast of more than 3% growth. This increase comes despite planned maintenance at the Ichthys LNG plant in Western Australia, which temporarily reduced output in the integrated LNG division by around 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
Refining margins provided a major boost, surging to $63 per metric ton compared to $15.4 per ton a year earlier. This jump is projected to add between $400 million and $600 million to downstream earnings, broadly in line with analyst estimates.
The upbeat production figures were tempered by weaker crude prices, with Brent averaging $69.1 a barrel during the quarter versus $80.3 in the same period last year. While the Ichthys maintenance is expected to weigh on integrated LNG earnings, the company has not disclosed the exact financial impact.
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