With net profit for the year of $28.7 billion, up from $8.6 billion a year earlier, Equinor joined global oil and gas majors such as ExxonMobil (XOM.N), Shell (SHEL.L) and BP (BP.L) in reporting record returns for 2022.
Majority state-owned Equinor (EQNR.OL) became Europe's largest supplier of natural gas last year as Russia's Gazprom (GAZP.MM) cut deliveries over the West's support for Ukraine, sending European gas prices to all-time highs.
But gas prices have tumbled in 2023 and Equinor's Oslo-listed stocks have fallen 9% year-to-date, underperforming a 3.3% rise in European petroleum stocks (.SXEP).
The board reaffirmed a regular share buyback plan of $1.2 billion per year and said it would make an extraordinary buy back in 2023 of $4.8 billion, for a total of $6 billion.
Equinor's previous adjusted earnings record was $36.2 billion in 2008, when North Sea oil prices hit record highs.