Trimestrale di Total... anche qui utile netto in forte calo, produzione in leggerissima ripresa, margini delle attività di downstream, in specie di raffinazione, in forte calo, dell'85% su base annua, a fronte di un livello di utilizzo degli impianti sceso dal 92% all'82% in un anno. Il tutto come conseguenza del robusto calo nei consumi di carburante da parte dei privati e del trasporto industiale.
Anche per Total la situazione non è destinata a migliorare nel breve termine e forse neanche nel lungo, tant'è che la società, oltre a prevedere i consueti tagli di capacità produttiva con chiusure di impianti e riduzione di manodopera, ha messo in programma la possibile dismissione di alcuni asset nel segmento della raffinazione.
Total’s Profit Falls on Lower Demand, Weak Refining (Update1)
By Tara Patel
Nov. 4 (Bloomberg) --
Total SA, Europe’s third-largest oil producer, said third-quarter profit fell 54 percent as the global recession eroded energy demand, slashing crude and natural-gas prices.
Profit excluding changes in inventories and the value of a stake in
Sanofi-Aventis SA declined to 1.87 billion euros ($2.8 billion) from 4.07 billion euros a year earlier, the Paris-based company said today in a statement. The company was estimated to make 1.8 billion euros, according to the median estimate of 15 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg News.
Output rose 0.5 percent to 2.243 million barrels of oil equivalent a day in the third quarter compared with the same period last year and 2.8 percent compared with the previous quarter when production fell to the lowest in at least nine years.
“Total’s production is back on track,” Chief Executive Officer
Christophe de Margerie said. The French oil company’s spending is “in line” with a target of $18 billion for 2009.
Total in September said it expects production to drop this year, reversing a prediction of a gain, and estimated annual growth of about 2 percent through 2014 as five developments this year offset an annual decline rate projected at 5 percent.
Total has started four of five developments planned this year, including the Akpo oilfield off
Nigeria in March, liquefied natural gas plants in Qatar, the Tahiti field in the Gulf of Mexico and Angola’s Tombua-Landana field. A Yemen LNG project will export its first cargo on Nov. 7, two people familiar with the matter said. It also started output at the Tyrihans field in the Norwegian Sea.
Output Boost
Total’s share in these projects will add as much as 230,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day in output in 2010 and 70,000 barrels to 80,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day this year, according to Chief Financial Officer Patrick de la Chevardiere.
Production in the coming months “should reflect the ongoing ramp up from the major projects started up in 2009 and maintenance levels normally below that of the third quarter,” according to the statement.
Total plans to make final decisions “in the coming quarters” on whether to invest in the Surmont Phase 2 in Canada, Clov in Angola and Laggan-Tormore in the U.K., according to the statement.
Shut Plants
Europe’s biggest refiner has shut refining operations because of eroding margins for turning crude into gasoline and other fuels. Refining margins in Europe slumped 85 percent to $6.6 a metric ton in the quarter, the lowest in at least seven years, from $45 a ton a year earlier, Total said. It was $12.40 a ton in the second quarter.
“Despite modest improvement in diesel margins, European refining margins remain at very weak levels, requiring the group to maintain voluntary throughput reductions,” Total said. The utilization rate was 82 percent compared with 92 percent a year ago.
Adjusted downstream net operating income tumbled 84 percent to 146 million euros because of a “sharp decrease in refining margins,” according to the statement.
The company may sell refining assets and will continue a program to improve profitability amid overcapacity in Europe and the U.S., de Margerie has said.
Total plans to cut 555 jobs at its refining and petrochemicals operations in France. It will also reduce output at the Gonfreville refinery in Normandy by 25 percent to 12 million tons a year, and shut a fluid catalytic cracker, lowering gasoline output by 60 percent.
Demand for oil products has fallen as consumers cut spending on travel and goods, leading to lower profits for refiners, reduced plant operating rates and temporary closures.
Net income fell 37 percent to 1.92 billion euros, the company said.
Exxon Mobil Corp. and
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the world’s biggest energy companies, last week posted declines in third-quarter net income of 68 percent and 62 percent, respectively. Oil futures in New York fell 42 percent to an average of $68.24 in the quarter from a year earlier.
