Company news

摘要

Total increased second-quarter profit by 21pc from a year earlier to $3.8bn, helped by proceeds from the sale of a 25pc stake in its Tempa Rossa heavy oil field in Italy. But the firm’s underlying profit, which excludes divestment gains and other special items, was down by 1pc to $3.5bn, as lower crude prices offset a 1pc hike in production to 2.29mn b/d of oil equivalent. The Tempa Rossa divest- ment drove a 7pc year-on-year rise in upstream profit to $3.4bn. Downstream profit, excluding inventory valuation effects, was up by 30pc from a year earlier to $828mn, driven by a 6pc rise in sales of refined products to 1.78mn b/d. But lower refining margins in Europe and a 6pc fall in refinery throughputs to 1.77mn b/d capped downstream profit growth.