Total SA posted a third-quarter profit that beat analysts’ forecasts as rising oil and gas production and growing profits from its refining operations helped the French company weather a slump in crude prices.
Total’s adjusted net income fell to $2.76 billion in the third quarter, a decline of 23 percent from $3.56 billion a year ago, the company said in a statement Thursday. That beat the average $2.46 billion estimate of 11 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Net income dropped 69 percent to $1.08 billion as the company wrote down the value of inventories and took a charge on an asset it’s selling.
