MOSCOW (MRC) -- French oil and gas company Total's net adjusted profit tumbled 23 percent to USD2.756 billion in the third quarter compared with the same period a year ago, hit by a sharp fall in global oil prices, said Reuters.
The firm however revised its production growth target higher to more than 9% this year from 8 percent previously following a 10 percent jump in production in a third quarter boosted by new projects.
Analysts on average had expected USD2.391 billion in net adjusted profit, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S estimates.
"In a context where the oil price has fallen by 50 percent in one year, Total was able to demonstrate its resilience by limiting to 23 percent the decrease in its third quarter adjusted net income of USD2.8 billion," Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said in a statement.
Record-high margins in the European refining sector boosted profits at Total's downstream division, which were up 82 percent on the previous year in the third quarter.
Total said that it was on track to more than beat its target of USD1.2 billion in cost reductions in 2015, while organic investments after nine months were USD16.6 billion, in line with the objective of USD23-24 billion for 2015.
Rival BP on Tuesday announced a third round of spending cuts and more asset sales over the coming years to tackle the extended period of low oil prices and help pay for its USD54 billion U.S. oil spill settlement.
Total said it would pay an interim dividend of 0.61 euro per share in the quarter.
As MRC informed earlier, in the early October, Total was negotiating possible financing of its Yamal LNG liquefied gas project in Russia with Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and other financial institutions.
Total S.A. is a French multinational oil and gas company and one of the six "Supermajor" oil companies in the world with business in Europe, the United States, the Middle East and Asia. The company's petrochemical products cover two main groups: base chemicals and the consumer polymers (polyethylene, polypropylene and polystyrene) that are derived from them.
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