---
title: "TotalEnergies authorizes a $2.5 billion buyback with oil about $48 above budget"
url: "https://etf.net/news/totalenergies-authorizes-a-2-5-billion-buyback-with-oil-about-48-above-budget-2026-09-28"
published_at: "2026-09-28T12:27:45.000Z"
updated_at: "2026-09-28T14:16:17.669Z"
byline: "ETF.net Research"
---

# TotalEnergies authorizes a $2.5 billion buyback with oil about $48 above budget

TotalEnergies on Monday, September 28, authorized $2.5 billion of fourth-quarter share buybacks, with Brent at $107.93, about $48 above the $60 budget behind its February cut, and a dividend increase of more than 5% a year through 2030.

By ETF.net Research. Published Sep 28, 2026.

TotalEnergies on Monday authorized **$2.5 billion** of fourth-quarter share buybacks and a dividend increase of more than 5% a year through 2030. The buyback has been rising with the oil price. The dividend promise is not tied to an oil price.

The board met on Sunday. Brent, the international oil price, was at $107.93 Monday morning, about **$48** above the $60 a barrel budget the company used in February, when it cut the quarterly buyback.

Chart: Brent is up **77.7%** year to date, 50.2% in three months

It was up 3.5%, after President Trump said on Saturday that he was rejecting an Iranian plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The Middle East conflict has disrupted the strait.

That disruption has also cut some of TotalEnergies' own production. Shutdowns in Qatar, Iraq and offshore the United Arab Emirates were about 15% of its oil and gas output at the end of March. In July the company said the hit was nearly 10% of production, and that it still depended on whether oil could move through Hormuz.

Patrick Pouyanné, chairman and chief executive, said on the first-quarter results call that the higher price more than offset the lost production. The company said an $8 a barrel rise in Brent was enough to cover the 2026 cash flow from those shutdowns at a $60 price.

The board has been resetting the buyback as the price moved. In February, at the $60 budget, it authorized $0.75 billion for the first quarter and said it was keeping room to change the amount if prices moved. It bought back $0.75 billion in the first quarter and $1.5 billion in the second. In July it authorized up to $1.5 billion for the third quarter.

In September 2025 the board told investors to expect $0.75 billion to $1.5 billion a quarter in 2026 if Brent was between $60 and $70. The new $2.5 billion is above that ceiling, and it reverses the February cut.

Last year the company bought back $7.5 billion of shares. A quarter at $2.5 billion is a third of that year, and the board has not set the quarters ahead at that rate. For the first quarter of 2027 it authorized $2 billion to $2.5 billion, so the next step can be lower.

The company publishes a scale for a price move, drawn for a cheaper market. A $10 change in the average price of the liquids it sells, not in Brent, moves yearly cash flow from operations by $2.8 billion, and adjusted net operating income, a measure of operating profit, by $2.3 billion. It states both figures for a Brent market of $60 to $70.

## The dividend promise

The dividend increase is not pinned to the $60 budget. On Sunday the board adopted a policy to raise the dividend by more than 5% a year for each financial year from 2026 through 2030. It says the extra cash should come from growing energy production 4% a year through 2030.

The press release puts free cash flow around $10 billion higher in 2030 than in 2025, or more than $4 a share, "at same price deck." That phrase means the comparison holds prices constant between the two years. The $60 figure is the buyback budget. This comparison does not come with an oil price of its own. Pouyanné is presenting the plan in New York on Monday.

The 2025 dividend was €3.40 a share, up 5.6% from 2024. The first payment for 2026 is €0.90 a share, against €0.85 a year earlier.

Shell aims to raise its dividend about 4% a year, if its board agrees. BP's latest raise, in August, was 4%. Chevron says it has no formal dividend policy. TotalEnergies has named more than 5% a year through 2030.

The board also confirmed its policy of returning at least 40% of cash flow to shareholders, a policy it had already confirmed in September 2025. It expects gearing, a measure of debt against equity, below 10% by the end of 2026. It plans net investment of $14 billion to $17 billion a year from 2027 through 2032.

Monday morning the shares in Paris were at €81.08, up 1.4%, in line with Shell and BP in Europe. Before the New York open, the U.S. shares were indicated 1.8% above Friday's close of $90.94.

The quarterly buyback is the part of the payout that moves with the oil price, and the board can still change it. The dividend path through 2030 is the part it has promised without naming a price.

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