Total Warns Output Will Be Dented By North Sea, Nigerian Leaks

By Geraldine Amiel

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

PARIS -(Dow Jones)- Total SA (TOT, FP.FR) Friday warned that production in the second quarter will be impacted by leaks at its North Sea and Nigerian operations as well as planned maintenance as it reported a slight drop in earnings in the first quarter.

The group posted a 1% drop in adjusted net profit for the first quarter, due to the disposals of assets, the loss of Syrian output and due to the deterioration of the refining and chemicals performance.

Adjusted net income, an earnings benchmark that strips out non-performance-related inputs that is closely watched by investors, was down at EUR3.07 billion, from EUR3.1 billion a year earlier. The figure was fully in line with expectations as analysts polled by Dow Jones Newswires had expected EUR3.07 billion. Net profit for the period was down 7% at EUR3.66 billion compared with EUR3.95 billion a year earlier.

Output in the first quarter was marginally up at 2,372 million barrels of oil equivalent per day, from 2,371 mboe/d a year earlier and missed analysts' expectations of 2.378 mboe/d.

The group didn't provide any outlook for the rest of the year nor did it give any specific figure of the total cost so far of the Elgin platform gas leak in the North Sea.

- By Geraldine Amiel, Dow Jones Newswires; +33 1 40171767; geraldine.amiel@dowjones.com