French oil giant Total has reported that its profits soared by a third in 2010 to €10.3 billion, lifted by recovering crude prices.
Net profits were €2.6 billion in the fourth quarter alone, up by 23% on the same period in 2009 and above analysts' forecasts. Sales for 2010 stood at €159.3 billion, up 21%.
Total cited oil prices that have risen sharply, in line with a broad strengthening of the world economy. The average price of a barrel of Brent North Sea crude rose by 29% in 2010.
Chief executive Christophe de Margerie said the results also reflected an improvement in the group's performance, with production growth of more than 4%.
Total is one of the world's biggest oil firms and the biggest company in France by market capitalisation. It has begun shifting away from refining and last year closed its refinery at Dunkirk in northern France, sparking a big strike.
It said today that the volume of its refining was down by 7% in 2010 but its net profits on those activities rose by 23%.
Its huge profits for 2010 were still less than the €13.9 billion logged in 2008, before the worst of the global economic crisis, and the €30.46 billion earned last year by the world's biggest oil firm, US giant ExxonMobil.
