Total Raises Dividend 14%, Will Increase R&D Spending

By Vidya Root

Sept. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Total SA, Europe's third-largest oil producer, said its board approved a 14 percent increase in dividend, reflecting the earnings outlook.

Total's 2008 interim dividend will be 1.14 euros ($1.61) a share, the Paris-based company said today in a statement distributed by Business Wire. The oil producer also announced an expansion of its research and development program, earmarking 5.5 billion euros from now until 2013 to boost efficiency at industrial sites.

The company said its ``global market position'' in liquefied natural gas will triple by 2016 and plans $3 billion of capital expenditure on refining and petrochemicals by 2013. Total said its investment program is ``on track.''

The producer expects world oil output to remain below 100 million barrels a day until 2030 and world gas output to grow 1.5 percent a year in the period.

Chief Executive Officer Christophe de Margerie is relying on projects in Angola and Canada's oil sands to raise output as Kazakhstan and Venezuela restrict access to reserves. He has increased spending on exploration and production amid rising costs and started selling non-energy assets including a stake in drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis SA and a rubber unit.

To contact the reporter on this story: Vidya Root in Paris at vroot@bloomberg.net.