Record output and high oil prices helped French oil and gas major Total ( TOTF.PA ) report a consensus-beating rise in net adjusted profit during the first three months of the year, with Total adding it would surpass its production target for 2018. Photo Total’s earnings echoed a similarly robust set of results from Royal Dutch Shell ( RDSa.L ) which also posted higher Q1 profits on Thursday. Total produced 2.703 million barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d) in the first quarter, driven by ramp-ups and new acquisitions, up more than 5 percent compared to the same period in 2017, and above analysts’ estimates of 2.663 million boe/d. It said the ramp-up of production […]