U.S. oil services firm Baker Hughes to buy back $2 billion in shares

(Reuters) -U.S. oilfield services provider Baker Hughes Co said on Friday it had authorized Baker Hughes Holdings LLC to repurchase up to $2 billion of its common units.

The move comes as oil and gas companies keep their focus on shareholder returns over spending to expand production, even as crude prices climb to their highest levels since 2018.

Chevron Corp also said on Friday it planned to resume share buybacks this quarter at an annual rate of $2 billion to $3 billion, after halting purchases last year.

Royal Dutch Shell, TotalEnergies and Equinor are also resuming buybacks.

Shares of Baker Hughes were up 1.3% to $21.44 in mid-morning trading. Benchmark Brent crude were broadly flat at $76.18 a barrel.

(Reporting by Arathy S Nair in Bengaluru and Liz Hampton in Denver; Editing by Arun Koyyur)

By Liz Hampton and Arathy S Nair