TotalEnergies' third-quarter revenue drops as refining profits collapse

TotalEnergies, the French oil giant, reported a third-quarter net profit at $4.1 billion, a three-year-low. The company was hit by a collapse in refining margins as well as upstream outages.

The adjusted net income fell 37% compared to a year ago and 12.7% compared to the $4.7 billion of the previous quarter. Analysts had expected $4.2 billion.

The adjusted earnings before interest tax, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA), which is the total of all these items, fell by 23.6% to $10 billion.

TotalEnergies announced earlier this month that its financial results were going to be affected by a 65% drop in its refining margin.

The global refining margins dropped dramatically in recent months due to weaker economies around the world and the opening of new refineries across Asia and Africa. Oil prices also fell by 17% during the third quarter, the biggest quarterly drop in a decade. This was mainly because of concerns about global oil demand.

TotalEnergies suffered a $1.1 billion impairment due to the bankruptcy filing in August of its U.S. subsidiary SunPower and its withdrawal from South African offshore blocks 5/6/7 and 11B/12B.

Due to disruptions caused by security in Libya, and a breakdown at the Ichthys LNG facility in Australia, the quarter's hydrocarbon production was below the guidance provided at half-year. Reporting by America Hernandez in Paris and Benjamin Mallet; Editing by David Goodman, Mark Potter

(source: Reuters)