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TotalFina net doubles
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January 31, 2001: 5:40 a.m. ET
French oil group cites crude oil price rises, weak euro for soaring 2000 profit
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LONDON (CNNfn) - French oil company TotalFinaElf reported 2000 earnings more than doubled on Wednesday, topping expectations, as crude oil prices ballooned.
TotalFinaElf earned net profit of  7.6 billion ($7 billion), excluding one-off items, up from 3.35 billion a year earlier. The mid-point of a Reuters survey of analysts was 7.3 billion.
Sales rose 55 percent to 116 billion at the largest company in France by market value.
TotalFinaElf credited a 58-percent jump in average crude oil prices last year -- which helped improve profits at the firm's exploration and production activities -- higher refining margins, and a strong dollar compared to the euro. 
In 2000 TotalFinaElf recorded 1.1 billion in one-off charges, most of which were related to the cost of uniting TotalFina and Elf Aquitaine to create the company following their $54 billion merger in 1999.
Operating income from TotalFinaElf's upstream activities – exploration and production – rose 145 percent to 10.1 billion. Its downstream activities, involving refining and marketing businesses, rose 205 percent to 3.2 billion.
Shares of TotalFinaElf (PFP) rose 1 percent to 156.6 in late morning trading in Paris on Wednesday following the results.
The price of crude was extremely volatile in 2000, with high prices through much of the year forcing oil cartel OPEC to hike production. However, prices have plunged in recent months, and OPEC recently cut output to prevent prices falling further. Brent crude stood at $27.15, up 26 cents on the day. 
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