French oil major Total recently reported positive third quarter earnings, which it had sustained thank to its focus on increasing production as well as declining operational costs and capital spending.
“We expect the environment to remain volatile but based on our 2015 and first half 2016 performance, Total has been the best performing major whether the oil price is rising or falling. Our priority is to continue reducing break-evens and improving cash flow,” said Total CFO Patrick de la Chevardière.
This quarter, the company is on track to surpass its goal of reducing operating costs by $2.4bn, the company said.
Upstream production has grown more than 4.3% this year to 2.44mn barrels of oil equivalent per day due to new start-ups and ramp ups, although third quarter adjusted net income fell 25 percent to $2.07bn.
Strong performance in its LNG business has helped Total outperform its peers, Chevardière said according to media reports. “LNG volumes have grown 5% year-over-year for the nine months and represent more than 30% of upstream net results. This is part of the reason we have outperformed our peers.”
