TotalEnergies clears oil sands of Canada and improves result in a lower-price conditions

April 28, 2023: -French oil and gas huge TotalEnergies said on Thursday it had accepted providing to sell its carbon-heavy Canadian oil sands research to Suncor Energy for $4.1 billion, with potential extra payments of increased to $450 million.

The firm had initially planned to spin off the business. Still, it said the sale to Suncor would be more direct, and the price tag was comparable to its valuations for a business listing.

Considering the sale’s proceeds, which should close the third quarter, it plans to distribute nearly 40% of the cash flow started this year to shareholders through a share buyback or a special dividend.

TotalEnergies said its initial-quarter adjusted net income decrease 27% to $6.5 billion, with analyst anticipation because of lower oil and gas prices.

The firm is sticking with plans for a share buyback of increased to $2 billion in the second quarter, as in the year’s first three months. It confirmed it anticipated net investments of $16-18 billion this year, which includes $5 billion for low-carbon energies.

The firm, which saw European refining ability hampered by French strikes in the initial quarter, expects its facilities will ramp back above 80% with the end of the protests. But the margins on changing diesel will drop as Chinese exports surge and Russian volumes find recent global buyers.

TotalEnergies anticipated its gas production and sales to increase as projects begin in Oman and Norway and as a central U.S. liquefied natural gas export terminal comes back online.