French oil major Total's profits jump on record production

PARIS (Reuters) - French oil and gas major Total's net adjusted profit rose 10 percent in the last quarter of 2018, enabling it to report a full year profit rise of 28 percent to $13.6 billion, buoyed by record oil and gas production during the year.

Total said output reached 2.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2018 thanks to the start-ups of various operations and increased production in Australia, Angola, Nigeria and Russia.

"These excellent results reflect the strong growth of more than 8 percent of the group's hydrocarbons production," Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said in a statement.

Total said the results will enable it to continue its shareholders' return policy announced last year. After increasing dividends by 3.2 percent in 2018, it plans a 3.1 percent rise in 2019.

It will also buy back $1.5 billion of its shares in 2019 after buying back the same amount last year.

Total added it would eliminate its scrip dividend scheme from June 2019.

(Reporting by Bate Felix; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)