- Total (TOT +1.6%) says it is sticking with key targets for production, savings and investments for the coming years, and pledges to buy back $1.5B of shares by the end of this year after purchasing $600M in shares during H1 as part of its $5B 2018-20 buyback program announced in February.
- With Brent oil prices at $60/bbl, TOT expects cash flow to rise by $7B during 2017-20 and return on equity to increase to 12%, which will enable it to continue to reward shareholders.
- TOT keeps its production growth target of 6%-7%/year during 2017-20 and capital investments for the same period at $15B-$17B, while also maintaining its cost savings target of $5B/year by 2020 compared to the 2014 base.
- Separately, TOT agrees to acquire all of Chevron’s (CVX +0.7%) share capital in the Danish Underground Consortium, which will increase its stake in the project and expand its North Sea presence.
- The purchase will increase TOT’s operated share of DUC to 43.2%, where partners include Royal Dutch Shell with 36.8%; the consortium, which started production in 1972, operates 15 fields in the Central Graben area of the North Sea and covers nearly 90% of Danish oil and gas production, which totaled 182K boe/day in 2017.