Oil company Total SA said Thursday that its second-quarter net profit edged down 1 percent as improved refinery margins failed to offset the weaker U.S. dollar.

Net income fell to 3.41 billion euros ($4.66 billion) from 3.44 billion euros in the same period a year ago, said Total, one of the world’s largest publicly traded oil companies.

Total’s results don’t fully reflect the rising price of oil _ which it sells in dollars _ because unlike some of its rivals, the French company reports in euros. Total calculates an exchange rate of $1.35 per euro in the second quarter compared with $1.26 a year earlier.

“We are fully sensitive to the evolution of the dollar,” Chief Financial Officer Robert Castaigne said in a conference call.

Total is not the only one suffering. Spanish-Argentine oil company Repsol YPF SA also cited a weaker dollar as a factor behind an 11 percent drop in second-quarter net profit.

Shares in Total fell 2.3 percent to close at 56.06 euros ($76.59) in Paris.

Citigroup said Total is its preferred major European oil company, due “mainly to its growth outlook relative to peers, underpinned by visible projects.” Net income was in line with expectations, though production came short by 25,000 barrels a day, Citigroup said.

The company said average production in the second quarter grew 1.4 percent to 2.32 million barrels of oil equivalent per day thanks to increased activity from Total’s 240,000 barrel-a-day Dalia field facility in Angola.

Production was curbed by an accident at the Nkossa platform in the Republic of Congo, causing operations to be shut down, and reductions demanded by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The world’s major oil companies have reported mixed results for the first quarter, with profits flat at Exxon Mobil Corp., down at Royal Dutch Shell PLC and up at BP PLC.

Total’s adjusted net income, which strips out special items and charges related to the Sanofi-Aventis merger, fell 8 percent to 3.10 billion euros ($4.24 billion) from 3.36 billion euros a year earlier.

Revenue fell 4 percent to 39.1 billion euros ($53.41 billion) from 40.9 billion euros.

Total said it expects returns from the development of new fields, exploration efforts and negotiations with large national oil companies to strengthen “the outlook for profitable growth for the coming years and for the very long term.”

In the second quarter, Russia’s state-controlled monopoly OAO Gazprom announced a decision to partner with Total at the Arctic offshore field Shtokman, which could become a future source of liquefied natural gas for North America. The field is estimated to contain as much as 3.7 trillion cubic meters of gas.

Total also said it started new projects in Algeria, Nigeria, Angola and Qatar, and made major discoveries in the Republic of Congo and Angola.

The company has said it plans to sell its 13 percent stake in Sanofi-Aventis, which Castaigne said will happen progressively when market conditions are appropriate.

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