PARIS, Feb 7 Reuters TotalEnergies warned on Wednesday that weakness in refining margins would impact its 2024 results after lower oil prices drove a 31 decline in its adjusted income for the fourth quarter of 2023.

Profits from oil majors have been down in 2023 by about a third from record levels in 2022, pressured as oil and gas prices retreated after spiking when Russia invaded Ukraine.

The French group39;s net adjusted income dropped to 5.2 billion from 7.6 billion in the same quarter a year earlier. That compared with analysts39; average forecast of 5.4 billion, according to LSEG data.

TotalEnergies39; CEO Patrick Pouyanne said that the group expected a return of about 10 on its integrated power sector for 2024.

A third of investments set aside for 2024 will be dedicated to new petrol and gas projects, Pouyanne told reporters.

In terms of shareholder rewards, TotalEnergies said it planned to increase interim dividends by 6.8 to 0.79 euros per share and to buy back 2 billion of shares in the first quarter of 2024.

That would be the base level for quarterly buybacks in the current environment, it said.

For 2023, TotalEnergies proposed a dividend of 3.01 euros per share, up 7.1 from 2022.

The oil and gas group recorded quarterly adjusted core earnings EBITDA of 11.7 billion, down 27 yearonyear, and production of 2.483 million barrels per day bpd, down 12 yearonyear.

For the whole of 2023, adjusted net income fell 36 to 23.2 billion as oil prices fell back…