France's Total has reported a 10% drop in net profit year-on-year to €2.76 billion ($3.77 billion) in the third quarter on sales down 6% to €46.68 billion.
The explorer said the fall was “mainly due to a lower contribution from upstream, which reflects an unfavourable production mix and higher exploration charges, and a lower contribution from refining and chemicals, partially offset by robust performance in marketing and services”.
The Paris-headquartered oil major said that while Brent prices inched up 1% year-on-year to average $110.30 in the third quarter, the European refining margin indicator tumbled by 79% to $10.60 per tonne over the same time-frame.
The company posted a third quarter profit of just under $4.7 billion, down 35% on 2012's nearly $7.2 billion profit during the same quarter.
The fall in profits came despite revenue rising 3.9% to $116.5 billion, compared to the $112.8 billion generated a year earlier.
Hitting the company's bottom line however was a 29% fall in earnings from its upstream business segment to just under $3.3 billion.
Exploration expenses for the quarter rose to more than $1.6 billion, compared to just $713 million in the third quarter of 2012, mainly related to exploration well write-offs.