Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Total SA, Europe's largest oil refiner, said second-quarter profit climbed 33 percent, bolstered by higher crude prices and wider refining margins.

Profit excluding items rose to 2.91 billion euros ($3.6 billion) from a restated 2.19 billion euros in the year-earlier period, Paris-based Total said on its Web site. Analysts predicted profit of 2.9 billion euros, according to the median of nine surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Total Chief Executive Officer Thierry Desmarest, 59, benefited in the period from a 39 percent rise in oil prices in New York, to an average $53.22 a barrel. Refining margins improved, limiting the effect of maintenance shutdowns at four refineries and a five-day strike in France, source of about half the company's output of products such as gasoline and diesel.

``They had some heavy maintenance offshore Norway and at four very important refineries,'' Bertrand Hodee, an analyst at Kepler Equities in Paris, said before the results. He has a ``buy'' recommendation for the shares and said Total is his top pick among European oil companies. ``Refining was also hurt by a strike in May in France, when refining margins were hitting records.''

Shares in Total yesterday rose 1 percent to 211.3 euros. The stock has climbed 31 percent this year, surpassing the 18 percent increase for France's benchmark CAC 40 Index.

Total beat analysts' expectations in the first quarter, when refining profit jumped 60 percent and refinery production averaged a record 2.6 million barrels a day. Northwest European refining margins averaged $5.68 a barrel in the second quarter, up 7.4 percent from a year ago, according to BP Plc, Europe's largest oil company.

Shell, BP

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's second-biggest oil company, last week said second-quarter profit excluding gains or losses in the value of its oil inventory and a one-time charge rose 22 percent to $5.17 billion. BP the same week reported a 29 percent surge in second-quarter profit, to $4.98 billion.

Maintenance requirements prompted Total to idle two refineries, Milford Haven in the U.K. and Grandpuits in France, and partially shut down its two largest refineries, Antwerp in Belgium and Normandy in France, according to Bertille Aron, a Total spokeswoman.

Employees at five of Total's six refineries in France were also on strike from May 16 to May 20 to protest the French government's decision to scrap the 119-year-old Whit Monday public holiday.

Output Curbs

Oil and gas production was curbed by production sharing contracts with national oil companies that reduce how much Total keeps as oil prices rise. Total also had maintenance on offshore platforms in Norway, Total's largest oil and gas source, accounting for about 18 percent of production in 2004, according to its annual report.

Total planned to buy a 25 percent stake in Russia's second- largest gas company, OAO Novatek. The Moscow-based company last month said the agreement had lapsed. Losing Novatek means Total may fall short of its target for 4 percent output growth through 2010, Robert Castaigne, Total's chief financial officer, said last quarter.

Analysts have said they aren't expecting Total's production to rise until the start of deepwater oil projects in offshore Nigeria and gas projects in Yemen and Norway.

``Total should be slow growth to no growth this year,'' Laurent Paris, an analyst at Dexia Securities in Paris, who has an ``outperform'' recommendation on the shares, said before the report. ``It's next year when we'll see new projects start to add production.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Mathew Carr in London at m.carr@bloomberg.net; Tom Cahill in Paris at tcahill@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 4, 2005 02:04 EDT