French energy company Total today reported a better than expected net profit for the first quarter as high output and strong performance in refining and chemicals helped limit the impact of a prolonged fall in oil prices.
Total said its net adjusted profit fell 37% to $1.6 billion but beat the $1.2 billion expected by analysts polled by Reuters.
Weak oil prices have hurt the industry, with US giant Exxon Mobil this week losing its Standard & Poor's top credit rating for the first time in almost 70 years.
Total said hydrocarbons production rose by 4% to 2.479 million barrels of oil equivalent per day compared with the same quarter last year, a level in the quarter last seen ten years ago.
Production from three start-ups in its Angola, Bolivian Incahuasi gas field and Kashagan oil field in Kazakhstan will enable grow production at 4% this year, Total said.
Total said in its downstream segment, although refining margins were down compared with 2015, the business had held up well and remained strong at the beginning of the second quarter.
Like its peers hurt by prolonged low prices and market oversupply, Total said it was cutting costs and aimed to spend less than the $19 billion it had planned for investments in 2016.
It said it was on target to achieve planned savings of $900m in 2016.
The company said it had the lowest technical cost among oil majors in the upstream division at $23 per barrel of oil equivalent (boe) compared with peers at $26 to $44 boe.
Its upstream division generated a net operating income of $498m in the first quarter.
Total said it aimed to reduce its cash break-even point to $40 per barrel compared with $45 announced in February.
