International Petroleum Corp. (IPC), an E&P with assets in Canada, Malaysia and France, repurchased nearly 65,000 of its own shares in part of a robust stock buyback trend among energy companies.

The Vancouver, Canada-based company announced that it repurchased 64,565 common shares on stock exchanges in Canada and Sweden between July 3 and July 7. It did not release the dollar amount spent on repurchasing the shares. A representative for the company said it will release the second quarter’s full amount spend on stock buybacks at the end of the quarter.

Energy companies’ stock buybacks are a pillar of their current strategy to keep investors on board by returning cash and offsetting fears of declining returns. The energy sector had the highest combined yields of buybacks and dividends of any sector in the S&P 500 during the first quarter of 2023.

IPC purchased 34,665 of its shares on the NASDAQ Stockholm and 29,900 shares on the Toronto Stock Exchange in early July.

The company has purchased more than 7 million shares since it issued a buyback program in December 2022. All common shares purchased on the company’s buyback program will be canceled, IPC said in a statement.

Up to 9.3 million shares may be repurchased in the company’s buyback program which ends in December. IPC has repurchased more than 7.1 million shares so far, and nearly 130.5 million shares are outstanding.