Tue May 6, 2003 02:58 AM ET

PARIS (<a href=reuters.com>Reuters) - French oil firm TotalFinaElf posted a forecast-beating 49 percent rise in first quarter profits on Tuesday on a surge in crude and fuel prices fueled by war and civil unrest in key oil producer nations.

One dealer said the results were "top end across the board" -- reflecting similar outperformance throughout the industry in results last week.

Total's net earnings improvement to 2.12 billion euros was at the top end of analysts' forecasts but trailed those of super majors BP, Royal Dutch/Shell and Exxon Mobil which all reported record earnings doubled or more from a year ago.

Analysts expected net profit to come in at 2.04 billion euros with forecasts in a 1.9-2.17 billion euro range. War in Iraq, strikes in Venezuela and civil unrest in Nigeria disrupted supplies and forced the price of oil and fuel higher.

The company's production growth also contributed to the better result, helping to offset a poor performance from its chemicals business.

The world's fourth largest oil group by stock market value which reports in euros, is more exposed to a weaker dollar than the big three, and benefits less directly from strong crude oil.

SHORTER NAME, STRONGER GROWTH

Later on Tuesday, TotalFinaElf is set to drop the second part of its name, acquired in recent years through the acquisition by Total of Belgium's Fina and Elf of France.

With its name shortened to Total, the company is still delivering better output growth than the other three, at five percent in the quarter.

It reaffirmed its target of five percent growth for 2003 as a whole, compared with flat to three percent among the other supermajors.

Reuters, 05.06.03, 1:55 AM ET

SINGAPORE, May 6 (Reuters) - Oil prices held steady on Tuesday awaiting U.S. fuel data for signs of stocking in key gasoline supplies ahead of the peak-demand summer-holiday period, which kicks off at the end of the month.

U.S. light crude traded down three cents to $26.46 a barrel, little changed after Monday's 82-cent rise in New York.

London's benchmark Brent crude jumped 77 cents to $24.29 a barrel in catch up with the U.S. market. The International Petroleum Exchange was closed on Monday for a public holiday.

U.S. oil prices pushed higher on Monday partly on concerns of a possible gasoline supply crunch in coming months when consumption traditionally peaks.

Gasoline demand in the United States burns up about 12 percent of global oil supply and is used by traders as a barometer of overall oil demand between the end-May Memorial Day holiday weekend and September's Labor Day.

Data for the week ended May 2 from the government's Energy Information Administration are expected to show a three-million-barrel rise in crude inventories, with gasoline increasing by 1.75 million barrels, said six analysts, polled by Reuters.

U.S. oil stocks have been running at sharp deficits to levels of a year ago. The EIA's report last Wednesday showed U.S. gasoline stocks up by 4.4 million barrels but still 10.5 million barrels below levels at the same point last year.

Crude stocks rose in the week to April 25 by 1.8 million barrels to 288 million, but remained a little over 38 million barrels below a year ago, the EIA said.

"Last year we saw how susceptible the market was to a major supply disruption with the strike in Venezuela. In previous years we have seen the market rise due to stress on the refinery network in the United States," said Sydney-based oil analyst Simon Games-Thomas.

"These factors will support the oil price at, or above, current levels," he said in a daily note.

IRAQI OIL IN U.N. TANGLE

Oil prices have also found support from a lack of progress in restoring crude supplies from Iraq, where production ground to a halt shortly before the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

Before the war, Iraq was pumping up to 2.5 million barrels per day (bpd) and exporting 1.7-2.0 million bpd, or roughly four percent of internationally traded oil.

Diplomats at the United Nations said on Monday that Iraq's exports remained stalled despite the weekend appointment of Thamir Abbad Ghadhban to run the country's oil ministry.

The U.N. Security Council, which oversaw the sale of Iraqi crude under the seven-year-old oil-for-food programme permitted under U.N. sanctions, is deadlocked over setting up a legal framework to resume sales.

Iraq has crude in storage that could be exported now, but without a competent authority to sign and certify sales oil firms are reluctant to trade the oil for fear of breaking the law.

The United States is expected to produce this week a draft resolution to lift U.N. sanctions on Iraq, in place since Baghdad invaded neighbouring Kuwait in 1990.

Diplomats said the U.S. proposal would transfer Iraq's oil wealth to a new Iraqi administration with World Bank oversight. Russia and other Security Council members want the oil sales to remain under U.N. control.

A U.N. diplomat representing one of the five permanent U.N. Security Council members -- Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States -- said it was "still too early" to say whether Washington's proposal would face resistance similar to earlier this year when it sought authorisation to invade Iraq.

May 5, 2003, 10:36PM By MICHAEL DAVIS Houston Chronicle

Venezuela is back to its pre-strike oil production level, and now the national oil company says it plans to increase production 2 million barrels a day by 2008.

Officials from Petroleos de Venezuela SA, including Chief Executive Ali Rodriguez, were in Houston on Monday as part of a series of conferences the national oil company is holding aimed at restoring investor confidence following the devastating strikes that began in December and virtually shut down the Venezuelan oil industry for three months.

Many dispute the current production figures coming out of Venezuela. A Bloomberg Survey released Monday pegged the country's production at 2.59 million barrels per day, up 340,000 a day over March production.

Rodriguez challenged those estimates, saying oil production is back to 3.2 million barrels per day and said Venezuela has recently made some significant new discoveries including a giant field south of Lake Maracaibo that could hold as much as 1 billion barrels.

The goal of the strikes was to oust President Hugo Chavez, but he remains in office. Strikers tried to use oil as a political weapon, something that had never been done before in a country that garners a majority of its revenues from oil.

Rodriguez referred to the strikers as people who abandoned the company and country. Some 18,000 PDVSA strikers were fired.

"The crisis we endured in late 2002 and early 2003 was not only unusual but also unprecedented in the history of the Venezuelan oil industry," Rodriguez said at a news conference.

Restarting the nation's oil industry was a "daunting task," Rodriguez said. The company used retirees and volunteers to replace workers who left their jobs. The military was used to prevent sabotage and keep order.

OPEC quotas will likely rise as demand increases, meaning Venezuela will not find itself at odds with other OPEC members as it increases its production to a desired 5.1 million barrels per day over the next five years, he said.

Most OPEC countries are producing as much oil as their infrastructure can support. Venezuela is one of six cartel countries that can expand production capacity, Rodriguez said.

Of the $43 billion the country expects to spend over the next five years to increase its production, 46 percent of that will come from the national and international private sector, Rodriguez said.

The country is preparing to offer some offshore blocks for natural gas exploration, a large element of the company's new business plan. Venezuela has an estimated 148 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. It plans to begin exporting liquefied natural gas to the United States once processing facilities are complete.

Five offshore natural gas blocks have been identified so far, two of which have been awarded to Statoil and ChevronTexaco. The other three blocks will likely be offered later this year, officials said.