Total's Profit Rises 39% on Record Crude Oil Prices

By Fred Pals and Tara Patel

Aug. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Total SA, Europe's third-largest oil company, said second-quarter profit advanced 39 percent, boosted by record crude and higher natural-gas prices.

Net income climbed to 4.73 billion euros ($7.36 billion) from 3.41 billion euros a year earlier, the Paris-based company said today in a Web site statement. Adjusted profit rose 20 percent to 3.7 billion euros, higher than the 3.6 billion-euro median estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.

U.S. oil futures rose above $140 a barrel for the first time in the second quarter and averaged 90 percent more in the period than a year earlier. Gas prices were 50 percent higher.

Total, along with Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world's two biggest publicly traded oil companies, face increasing barriers to tapping oil and gas reserves as resource- holding nations favor national champions. The French company is relying on projects in Angola and the Canadian oil sands to raise production in the coming years as well as moving into alternative fuel supplies such as solar energy and nuclear power.

Oil and gas production was 2.353 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in the quarter, compared with 2.322 million barrels a day a year earlier and 2.426 million barrels a day in the previous quarter.

Total is also counting on output from its Jura gas and condensate discovery off the northeastern coast of Scotland, which started in May, as well as the deep offshore Moho-Bilondo field in the Republic of Congo.

Analyst Ratings

Of the 37 analysts tracked by Bloomberg who cover Total, 31 recommend buying the shares, four advise holding the stock and two say ``sell.''

Total's earnings come after European competitors Shell and BP Plc earlier this week reported jumps in dollar-denominated profit of 33 percent and 28 percent, respectively.

Total's shares yesterday rose 21 cents, or 0.4 percent, to 49.40 euros in Paris. The stock is down 13 percent since the beginning of the year.

To contact the reporters on this story: Tara Patel in Paris at tpatel2@bloomberg.net; Fred Pals in Amsterdam at fpals@bloomberg.net