The French energy company Total Energies announced its acquisition of a 25 percent operating stake in 26 offshore exploration concessions managed by the American company Chevron in the United States, in a move that strengthens cooperation between the two companies and expands the French company’s portfolio of offshore exploration activities.
Total Energies said on Wednesday that the deal includes Chevron obtaining, in return, a 75 percent operating share in two adjacent exploration concessions that the French company owned, without revealing the financial value of the agreement.
The 26 concessions are located between 150 and 250 kilometers from the American coast, and include 24 areas in the Green Canyon Basin and two areas in the Walker Ridge region, and target oil and gas reservoirs known for their exploration potential.
The deal strengthens the existing cooperation between the two companies in exploration activities in the United States, as it comes as an extension of Total Energy’s entry, in June 2025, into 40 exploration concessions managed by Chevron.
The French company said that expanding its exploration portfolio gives it access to promising new opportunities, and complements its shares in a number of producing fields in the United States. Among them are “Ballymore”, “Anchor”, “Jack” and “Tahiti”.
The statement quoted Nicola Mavilla, Senior Vice President of Exploration at Total Energies, as saying that the deal strengthens the joint exploration portfolio between the two companies in the United States, and provides access to new opportunities that may contribute to achieving additional value from low-emission resources, by taking advantage of the strengths of both parties.
Total Energies has been operating in the United States since 1957, and says it has invested about $12 billion since 2022 to accelerate its activities in oil, liquefied natural gas, and electricity. The company also exports liquefied natural gas through an integrated chain of activities, from production to export, and its American exports of liquefied natural gas reached 19 million tons in 2025, according to its data.
The United States is also a key market for the company's electricity sector strategy, as its installed production capacity in the country reaches 10 gigawatts.
Thailand's central bank left its key interest rate unchanged on Wednesday for the fourth time in a row, in line with widespread expectations.
The Bank of Thailand's Monetary Policy Committee voted unanimously to keep the one-day repo rate at 1 percent.
All 26 economists polled by Reuters had expected the interest rate to be fixed, while most of them expected the central bank to keep it at this level until the end of 2027.
The central bank had reduced interest rates six times, with a total of 150 basis points, between October 2024 and February 2026, to support Thailand's economy, the second largest economy in Southeast Asia, which is facing weak domestic demand and rising household debt.
The Swiss UBS Group announced, on Wednesday, achieving net profits in the third quarter that were almost in line with expectations, in conjunction with accelerating the share buyback program, despite the bank’s continued concerns about new capital requirements being discussed by the Swiss authorities.
The net profits of the largest bank in Switzerland amounted to $2.69 billion, an increase of 8 percent, compared to the same period last year, compared to $2.71 billion, according to the average expectations of analysts collected by the bank, according to Reuters.
UBS repurchased shares worth $1.8 billion during the quarter, and intends to complete its $3 billion program next February, instead of the date it previously set in mid-2027.
The bank had linked the size and timing of share repurchases to the results of the review of the rules regulating the Swiss banking sector, which came after the collapse of Credit Suisse in 2023, and its acquisition by UBS in an emergency deal arranged by the state.
The bank said that investor sentiment remains cautious in light of macroeconomic fluctuations, geopolitical tensions, and political uncertainty.
A group of European banks will announce their financial results this week, including Deutsche Bank and BNP Paribas, with investors monitoring their ability to maintain the record profits they recently recorded.
HSBC Bank raised concerns in the sector on Tuesday, after the pace of its revenue growth fell short of investors’ expectations, which pushed the shares of the largest bank in Europe by market value to decline.
Strong flows in Asia and the Americas
UBS's performance benefited from global wealth management attracting net new assets worth $55 billion, driven by inflows of $18 billion in Asia and $17 billion in the Americas.
The bank noted improved profitability in the Americas, with pre-tax profit margin rising by more than two percentage points.
He added that the process of merging Credit Suisse, its former competitor, is proceeding according to the plan scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. The bank raised its expectations for total accumulated cost savings by the end of 2026 to about $13.7 billion, compared to previous estimates of $13.5 billion.
The number of employees decreased by approximately 1,500 full-time employees during the quarter, as the consolidation process continued. The bank said that its employees use more than 12,700 personal artificial intelligence agents, stressing continued investment in this technology.
The bank's cost-to-income ratio fell to 72.3 percent at the end of the third quarter, compared to 77 percent a year ago.
Disagreement regarding capital requirements
The new capital rules imposed on UBS are currently under discussion in a Swiss parliamentary committee, and are expected to be presented to the House of Representatives in December. Last month, the Swiss Senate proposed rules that the bank described as unacceptable.
The Chairman of the Board of Directors of UBS warned that the bank would have to carefully study its future in Switzerland if capital requirements became too stringent, while some shareholders called for moving the bank outside the country.
UBS said, in presenting its financial results, that it hopes that Parliament will reach a solution that preserves financial stability in Switzerland, without imposing excessive costs on the bank’s shareholders, clients, and employees.
