Weak oil price hits Total results
Total (Euronext Paris: FP-FR) warned on Wednesday that sliding oil prices had hit its third-quarter results and could weigh for the rest of the year, following the death last week of chief executive Christophe de Margerie .
The oil and gas supermajor posted a 2 percent fall in quarterly net profit to $3.6 billion versus the same period in 2013.
Total's results came nine days after de Margerie died in an plane crash at Vnukovo Airport in Moscow. He was found dead at the scene of the accident just after 9 p.m. GMT on October 20, after the private plane in which he was flying collided with a snow removal machine. Three crew members were also killed.
Read MoreRussia detains suspects in Total CEO plane crash
De Margerie had joined Total in 1974, and was named CEO in 2007.
Patrick Pouyanne, previously head of refining, has taken over as chief executive , with Thierry Desmarest as chairman. Desmarest's role as chairman will conclude at the end of 2015, in line with Total's age limit bylaws. The positions of chairman and CEO will then be recombined.
Pouyanne has resigned from the board of French drugmaker Sanofi (Euronext Paris: SAN-FR) in order to focus on his new role at Total.
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Global energy companies like Total have been hit by tumbling oil prices in recent months.
In the third quarter of this year, Brent crude oil (New York Mercantile Exchange: @CL.1) prices averaged $101.9 per barrel, a decrease of 8 percent on the third quarter 2013 and 7 percent on the second quarter of this year, according to Total.
Read MoreTrack Brent oil prices with CNBC (Intercontinental Exchange Europe: @LCO.1)
In light of this, Pouyanne said Total would continue with asset sales, including plans to sell adhesives company Bostik, an oil and gas field in Norway and mining assets in South Africa.
"The recent decrease in the price of Brent highlights the importance of the programs we launched to reduce costs and control investment to strengthen the resilience of the Group," the new chief executive said in a report detailing Total's results.
On Tuesday, rival oil major BP (London Stock Exchange: BP.-GB) also warned of the impact of lower commodity prices, although it still saw a jump in operating cash flow for the third quarter.
Read More BP raises dividend despite oil price drop, Russia
Also on Wednesday, Norwegian energy firm Statoil (Oslo Stock Exchange: STL-NO) reported an unexpected third-quarter net loss , due to a string of impairment charges on projects from Canada to Angola.
