By Inti Landauro
PARIS--French oil major Total SA said Wednesday aggressive
cost-cutting and an increase in oil output helped offset the
fallout from the collapse in the price of oil on its bottom
line.
Total said net profit fell 4% to $2.97 billion in the second
quarter from the same period a year ago while revenue contracted
29% to $44.72 billion. When adjusted to exclude the effect of
inventories and other nonrecurring items, the company's net profit
fell to $3.09 billion down from $3.15 billion in the same quarter a
year ago.
The adjusted profit data was higher than the $2.75 billion
median forecast of eight analysts polled by FactSet.
Profit would have fallen even more if the French major hadn't
scrambled to raise output to an average 2.3 million barrels of oil
equivalent a day in the second quarter, from 2.05 million barrels a
day in the same period a year ago, the company said.
Total's strategy for stubbornly low oil prices has been similar
to other major energy companies: extract as much oil and gas from
current operations while cutting back aggressively on all costs and
reducing investment in long-term projects. Along with boosted
revenue from units like refineries and petrochemical plants--which
do well when prices are low--Total, like other majors, has shown
signs of resilience in the face of a historic market collapse.
Write to Inti Landauro at inti.landauro@wsj.com
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