Photo caption: TotalEnergies logo
TotalEnergies reported a 2.4% drop in third-quarter earnings on Thursday, meeting expectations as the French oil major raised upstream production and achieved improved crude refining margins to help offset lower oil prices.
Adjusted net income slipped to $4.0 billion from $4.1 billion a year earlier, in line with an analysts’ consensus compiled by LSEG — though Total had flagged a slight earnings rise in a trading update earlier this month.
Its shares were down 1.5% to 53.32 euros at 0856 GMT.
While oil prices in July-to-September were down about 14% from a year earlier, European margins on refining fuels have soared more than 300% as the EU’s ban on fuel imports made from Russian oil restricted supply just as diesel demand rose during the holiday driving season.
That boosted Total’s downstream results by $462 million or 76% versus a year earlier.
The company also increased its hydrocarbon production by 4% to 2.5 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, leading to a 10% boost in upstream earnings.
Earnings from its liquefied natural gas segment fell 18% reflecting maintenance-related outages and calmer markets.
Total said its LNG sales price would fall in the fourth quarter to $8.50 per million British thermal units, even as markets show a rise to $11/Mbtu on winter demand, due to a time lag affecting its pricing formulas.
The company is under pressure from investors to lower its debt after buying assets worth more than $3 billion in the first half while oil prices look set to fall further in 2026.
It announced a cost-saving programme, though some asset sales meant to bring in cash have fallen through.
About $400 million in disposals net of acquisitions this quarter have lowered the company’s gearing, or debt-to-equity ratio, to 17.3% from 17.9% in the second quarter.
“Looking forward, the key for Total will be to de-risk the $2 billion planned divestments” in the fourth quarter to further push down gearing, said RBC analyst Biraj Borkhataria.
He added that Total could generate more cash by selling Indian renewables co-owned with Adani Green Energy.
The company confirmed a trimmed share buyback of up to $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter.
Its third interim dividend of 0.85 euros per share, which Total said it would not cut, is 7.6% higher than a year earlier.
Total also announced that its plan to cross-list on the New York Stock Exchange will be realised on December 8, when existing American Depositary Receipts will be converted into ordinary shares.
=== Reuters ===
Trump and Xi Pledge Cooperation on Ukraine, Trade, and Minerals
*Trump and Xi reached agreements to reduce tariffs and lift China’s rare-earth mineral restrictions, signaling a thaw in trade tensions.
*The two leaders pledged to “work together” on the war in Ukraine, though they offered few details.
*Trump announced plans to visit China in April and hinted at a broader trade pact to follow the Busan summit.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held talks in South Korea where they discussed the war in Ukraine and agreed to walk back elements of their bruising trade war. Speaking aboard Air Force One following the October 30 sit down, Trump said that he had an “amazing meeting” with Xi and they they agreed on “many important points,” including agreements on trade, tariffs, and rare-earth minerals.
He told reporters that he will reduce a tariff on China over its role in the fentanyl crisis by 10 percent and that China would resume “large amounts” of soybean purchases from the United States, which were stopped in May in response to US tariffs.
Trump added that a deal was also reached on lifting Chinese restrictions on the flow of rare-earth minerals, 17 elements that play tiny but vital roles in cars, planes, and weapons. U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who is also Air Force One, said China would not be imposing its proposed rare earth controls that were expanded in October after an understanding between the presidents. He did not comment on controls that are already in place that were introduced in April.
“All of the rare earth [issue] is settled, and that’s for the world… This was a worldwide situation and not just a US situation,” Trump told reporters. “There’s no roadblock from China anymore.”
Trump added that he also discussed the war in Ukraine launched by Russia in February 2022, saying that he and Xi agreed to “work together.”
“We agree that the sides are locked in fighting and sometimes you gotta let them fight I guess.
But we’re going to work together on Ukraine,” he said.
Chinese officials have not yet commented on the meeting and no readout has been released.
The meeting at Busan’s Gimhae International Airport appears to have set the stage for a broader dialogue in the coming months, with Trump saying that he plans to visit China in April and that a tentative trade deal could be signed soon.
Moments before the talks began, Trump announced that he has instructed the Pentagon to break Washington’s voluntary moratorium on testing nuclear weapons “immediately.”
Trump said in a post on social media that the United States “has more Nuclear Weapons than any other country,” naming Russia as second and China “a distant third, but will be even within 5 years.”
Analysts told RFE/RL that they see limited room for a broader agreement during the talks, but that dialing back trade tensions could lay the groundwork for discussions towards a larger deal when Trump travels to China and Xi is expected to visit the United States next year.
In their opening remarks, both leaders praised one another.
Trump said he believed the two would “have a fantastic relationship for a long period of time,” while Xi said it was natural that the United States and China would “not always see eye to eye” and added that it was “normal for the two leading economies of the world to have frictions now and then.”
Heading into the talks, Trump and Xi were also expected to discuss other points of tension, including Taiwan and China’s support for Russia.
But Trump said that self-governing Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own, was not discussed. He added that he and Xi did not bring up China buying Russian oil, which Moscow has used to help fund its war.
Prior to the meeting, Ukraine and its allies called on Trump to pressure Xi Jinping over China’s backing of Russia. The meeting came a week after Washington announced sanctions on two major Russian oil companies.
China is the single-largest buyer of Russian crude and has been a vital lifeline for Moscow’s energy industry amid Russian President Vladimir Putin’s grinding war in Ukraine.
By RFE/RL
=== Oilprice.com ===
Wood Mackenzie Pushes Back Peak Oil Demand Forecast to 2032
Global oil demand is set to peak in 2032, two years later than previously expected, due to solid petrochemical demand and sluggish U.S. and European electric vehicle sales, Wood Mackenzie said in its new Energy Transition Outlook 2025-2026 report on Wednesday.
“Oil demand peak has shifted from 2030 to 2032, reflecting sluggish EV sales in the US and Europe, and continued momentum in petrochemicals,” WoodMac said.
The surge in AI and power demand will support natural gas across all four different pathways for the energy and natural resources sector that WoodMac has analyzed.
Energy demand will keep rising to 2050, as population growth, increasing incomes, and industrialization drive consumption.
The global electricity market is set to expand by a fifth by 2030 and double by 2050. However, clean energy will address supply rather than phasing out fossil fuels, according to Wood Mackenzie.
“The share of solar and wind in global power supply has grown from 5% to 20% over the past decade and the surge is expected to continue,” said Prakash Sharma, vice president, head of scenarios and technologies for Wood Mackenzie.
“But accelerating from deployment to a deeply decarbonized, resilient energy system is proving far more complex than simply adding megawatts.”
Last month, BP said that global oil demand is set to rise through 2030 amid weaker-than-expected efficiency gains. BP’s 2025 Energy Outlook ditches the supermajor’s forecast from last year that oil demand could peak as soon as this year.
Currently, the mid-2030s seems to be the most prevalent choice of international majors and energy forecasters for peak oil demand.
The exceptions, in the two extremes, are the International Energy Agency (IEA) which sees demand peaking by the end of this decade, and OPEC, expecting oil demand to continue rising through 2050, with consumption seen at 123 million barrels per day (bpd) then, up from about 104 million bpd this year.
=== Oilprice.com ===
U.S. Nuclear Output Forecast to Surge 27% After 2035
U.S. nuclear generation is projected to rise by 27% between 2035 and 2060, according to new analysis from Wood Mackenzie, as the rapid build-out of artificial-intelligence and cloud-computing infrastructure reshapes national electricity demand. The findings, cited by Reuters, suggest that a long-stagnant sector could enter a second expansion phase once legacy plants are extended and modular technologies reach commercial scale.
The firm said U.S. nuclear power’s share of total electricity generation could stabilize near 20% through 2040 before beginning to rise as post-2035 reactors come online, reversing a decades-long decline in output share. Wood Mackenzie estimates that total U.S. nuclear capacity could reach levels about one-quarter higher than today’s roughly 95 GW.
Growth after 2035 is expected to come largely from small modular reactors (SMRs) and advanced-fission units designed for load-following to support intermittent renewables. The renewed outlook stems from surging industrial power requirements from hyperscale data-center clusters tied to AI development, cloud storage, and electrified manufacturing.
The forecast aligns with recent U.S. government and private-sector initiatives aimed at rebuilding the domestic nuclear supply chain.
In October, Cameco and Brookfield Renewable Partners announced a strategic collaboration with Washington to accelerate an $80-billion reactor-deployment program, focused on next-generation designs, enriched-uranium availability, and workforce expansion. The partnership positions nuclear energy as a stable power option for the growing data-center sector and a practical route for lowering U.S. dependence on fossil fuels.
The Wood Mackenzie projections point to a move from limited policy support toward expectations of large-scale reinvestment.
With data-center consumption forecast to triple over the next decade, nuclear energy is re-emerging as the only carbon-free source capable of sustaining round-the-clock generation at scale, and this development is expected to redefine U.S. grid planning after 2035.
=== Oilprice.com ===
