Equinor (NYSE: EQNR) reiterated on Wednesday it plans to return $9 billion to shareholders in dividends and buybacks this year despite a slight miss in its first-quarter earnings.
The Norwegian energy giant reported today adjusted operating income after tax of $2.25 billion for the first quarter of 2025, down from $2.57 billion a year earlier and below the company-provided analyst consensus estimate of $2.38 billion.
Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.66, missing the $0.85 EPS that analysts had estimated.
European natural gas prices spiked to a two-year high in the middle of February, but slumped for the remainder of the first quarter, reducing some gas sales revenues for Equinor. Planned and unplanned maintenance at Hammerfest LNG also hurt gas sales and exports.
Equinor had already advised analysts to expect weak liquids and LNG trading results for the first quarter of the year. For the Norwegian operations, analysts should take into account the fact that the Hammerfest LNG / Snøhvit facilities were shut in for a total of 20 days in the first quarter for maintenance and pitstop, Equinor said early this month.
Despite the setbacks in LNG production and exports, Equinor kept an upbeat tone about its performance in the first quarter, in which it started up the Johan Castberg oilfield in the Barents Sea that will add 220,000 barrels of oil per day at peak production rates.
“We maintain a competitive capital distribution and expect to deliver a total of USD 9 billion in 2025,” Equinor President and CEO Anders Opedal said.
“With the current market uncertainties, Equinor’s core objective is safe, stable and cost efficient operations and resilience through a strong balance sheet.”
Equinor expects to launch the second tranche of up to $1.265 billion of its 2025 share buyback program, subject to shareholder approval. The first tranche of the program was completed on March 24, 2025 with a total value of $1.2 billion.
Equinor has a plan for up to $5 billion in share repurchases for 2025.
The Norwegian major joins Italy’s Eni in keeping shareholder distributions intact amid rising market uncertainties and falling oil prices.
UK’s BP, however, wasn’t able to do that and on Tuesday reduced by $1 billion its quarterly share buyback program after reporting weaker-than-expected earnings, significantly lower cash flow, and rising net debt for the first quarter.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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