Total net profit slips in 4th quarter

PARIS (AP) - Total SA says its quarterly profit slipped 2 percent on flat production and higher write-offs of refining assets even as the oil price surged.

The French oil company says it made euro2.03 billion ($2.8 billion) in the October to December quarter, down from euro2.07 billion a year earlier.

Europe's third-largest oil company says in a statement Friday that its combined output of oil and gas was stable at 2.4 million barrels a day in the fourth quarter, as higher oil prices led to a decline in the amount of oil Total was entitled to under production sharing agreements with governments of oil producing nations.