Equinor Q1 profit beats estimates on higher European gas prices

OSLO (Reuters) - Equinor reported a stronger than expected rise in its first-quarter profit on Wednesday, boosted by a jump in European gas prices.

The Norwegian oil and gas producer's adjusted earnings before tax for January-March increased to $8.65 billion from $7.53 billion a year earlier, beating the $8.51 billion predicted in a poll of 20 analysts compiled by Equinor.

"I am pleased to see the good operational performance and solid production capturing higher gas prices," Chief Executive Anders Opedal said in a statement.

European gas prices have fallen back to around 32 euros per megawatt hour in April, after hitting a two-year high of nearly 60 euros/MWh in early February.

Analysts still forecast prices to average around 40 euros/MWh for the rest of the year. In 2024, they averaged 34.6 euros/MWh.

Equinor maintained a projection that its oil and gas output will increase by 4% this year compared to 2024 and kept its forecast for capital expenditure in 2025 of $13 billion.

In February, Equinor followed rivals such as Shell and BP in promising higher oil and gas output, while scaling back investment in renewables, citing challenging market conditions for the green energy transition.

Equinor in the first quarter pumped 2.12 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, in line with expectations in the analyst poll, and slightly lower than the 2.16 million boed produced a year earlier.

"With the current market uncertainties, Equinor's core objective is safe, stable and cost-efficient operations and resilience through a strong balance sheet," Opedal said.

The company in 2022 overtook Russia's Gazprom as Europe's biggest supplier of natural gas when Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine upended decades-long energy ties.

Equinor's share price has declined 10% so far this year, lagging a 1.2% drop in the broader European energy stock index.

The majority state-owned company maintained its quarterly dividend at $0.37 per share, and confirmed plans to return to shareholders a total of $9 billion this year, including $5 billion in share buybacks.

It reported $7.39 billion in cash flow from operations after tax for the first quarter, just ahead of analysts' average prediction of $7.3 billion.

Equinor said it was too early to assess the impact on the company's operations and finances from recent U.S. trade policy changes.

($1 = 0.8794 euros)

(Reporting by Nerijus Adomaitis and Nora Buli. Editing by Rashmi Aich and Mark Potter)