TotalEnergies Uses Cash From War-Induced Price Rises to Cut Debt — Update

By Adam Whittaker

TotalEnergies said it is prioritizing paying down its debt as conflict in the Middle East continues to provide earnings tailwinds and the opportunity to shore up balance sheets.

The French oil-and-gas company said Thursday that continued high prices over the second quarter enabled it to cut its net debt by $3.3 billion to just shy of $20 billion. The company said it was prioritizing deleveraging as prices stay high.

Higher prices also enabled TotalEnergies to maintain its $1.5 billion quarterly share buyback and declare a second interim dividend of 0.90 euros a share.

The conflict is providing oil majors with an unexpected cash boost that looks set to continue. Iran has exchanged fire with the U.S. and its Gulf allies in recent daysthat has pushed oil prices above $96 a barrel. Prices are unlikely to snap back to pre-war levels even if the conflict were to end soon.

Spain's Repsol said Thursday it would buy back up to half a billion euros in shares by the end of October after high crude prices boosted its adjusted earnings in the first half of the year. Norwegian oil major Equinor this week also said it would increase its quarterly buyback.

TotalEnergies' oil and gas unit benefited from a near $18 a barrel rise in average liquids prices compared with the first quarter. Lost production due to the conflict was also less than initially expected, enabling the company to capture more of the higher prices.

The group's downstream unit also gained on historically high refining margins. These have been pushed higher by the unavailability of Russian refining capacity due to global sanctions, and supply disruption to Asian refineries as a result of the conflict. TotalEnergies' integrated liquefied natural gas unit suffered from a poor gas trading performance, however.

TotalEnergies is also using the war-induced cash windfall to keep returns to shareholders high. In April, it resumed share repurchases of up to $1.5 billion after previously slashing its buyback rate to $750 million in February.

Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose 5% on the prior quarter to $13.2 billion. Adjusted net income, a preferred profitability metric for the company, rose 12% to $6.03 billion.

Shares were up 1.1% in early European trade.

Write to Adam Whittaker at adam.whittaker@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 23, 2026 04:14 ET (08:14 GMT)