4 May 2007 - 17:16
  • News ID: 103796
Oil Price Fall Hurts Total Profits

PARIS, France -- Total, the world"s fourth largest oil group by market value, posted a smaller-than-expected 11 percent fall in first-quarter net income on Friday as lower oil prices and a weaker dollar impacted its performance.

France"s most valuable quoted company, with a market capitalization of around $180 billion, said it made an adjusted net profit of 2.992 billion euros ($4.07 billion).

 

This was down from 3.376 billion euros in the first three months of 2006 but above the average forecast of 2.858 billion euros of ten analysts polled by Reuters. It compared with a 17 percent drop in net profit at bigger rival BP.

 

Adjusted operating profit came in at 5.729 billion euros, compared to 6.688 billion in the first quarter of 2006, weighed by lower oil prices, and a near 10 percent year-on-year decline in the dollar against the euro.

 

Sales fell 3 percent year on year at 37.043 billion euros.

 

Total"s production was little changed at 2.431 million barrels of oil equivalent per day as the start of production of its Angolan Dalia field in December helped make up for disruptions in Nigeria and lower volumes from production-sharing agreements.

 

Total said Dalia had reached an output of 240,000 barrels per day in mid-April.

 

But full-year group production should grow by less than 6 percent because of lower-than-expected contributions from Azerbaijan and Venezuela as well as ongoing uncertainties in Nigeria, said Total, which had previously targeted a rise of 6 percent.

 

Total said it was confident of achieving a target of more than 5 percent production growth on average between 2006 and 2010.

 

PIN/REUTERS

News ID 103796

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