TotalEnergies books $3.1 billion impairment over Russia

TotalEnergies SE said Thursday that profit jumped in the third quarter of the year as it benefited from high commodity prices, but also booked a new impairment related to Russia.
The French oil-and-gas major said quarterly net profit came in at $6.63 billion compared with $4.65 billion in the same period last year. On an adjusted basis, profit was $9.86 billion, above a FactSet-compiled consensus that had forecast the figure at $9.54 billion.

Report informs, citing foreign media, that the company said it booked a new impairment of $3.1 billion related to Russia in the quarter.

TotalEnergies's hydrocarbon production decreased 5% on year to 2.67 million barrels of oil equivalent a day from 2.81 million boe/d in the previous year, partly due to higher planned maintenance on the Ichthys gas field in Australia and unplanned shutdowns of the Kashagan oil field in the Caspian Sea. The company expects fourth-quarter production at around 2.8 million boe/d.

Sales for the third quarter rose to $69.04 billion from $54.73 billion for the year-earlier period.

TotalEnergies said it expects oil prices to be supported by the OPEC+ decision to reduce production quotas and the European ban on Russian oil, despite anticipated slower global growth next year. It also said gas prices should remain high and refining margins strong.

The company will distribute a third interim dividend of 69 European cents ($0.69) a share for 2022, equal to the first and second 2022 interim dividends and an increase of 5% from the interim and the final dividends for 2021.