Total's third-quarter profits soar on record production, high oil prices

PARIS (Reuters) - French oil and gas major Total raised its production growth target for 2018, after a new record output and high oil prices during the third quarter enabled it to report its highest net income in a quarter since 2012.

"Total's third quarter adjusted net income increased by 48 percent from last year to $4 billion, while oil prices increased 44 percent to $75 per barrel supported by supply tensions and the geopolitical context," said Total's Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne in a statement.

The net income figure was above an average analyst forecast of $3.75 billion.

Production rose 8.6 percent to 2.8 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (Mboe/d), a new record output in a quarter, supported by the start-up of production at the Kaombo project in Angola and the ramp-up of projects such as Yamal LNG in Russia.

It plans to pay dividend of 0.64 euros per share in the quarter.

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