French Oil major Total has trimmed its average annual hydrocarbon output growth target for 2006-2010, blaming the impact of rising oil prices on some of its production-sharing agreements and project delays.
Slides made available today on Total's Web site ahead of the company's mid-year review showed the company now expects average annual hydrocarbon production to rise by 4 per cent on average in the 2006-2010 period.
The world's fourth largest oil group by market value had previously forecast annual output growth of more than 5 per cent over the period.
The downward revision reflects an industry-wide trend of scaled back growth targets, as mature fields dry up and the western oil majors are forced to explore for oil in ever more inhospitable places, while the biggest fields remain off limits to them for political reasons.
Analysts at Dresnder Kleinwort on Tuesday predicted Total would follow rivals BP and Royal Dutch Shell cut its growth forecasts in the review, despite being one of the few oil majors to increase production recently.
The world's fourth-largest non-government controlled oil company by market value said the new forecast took into account a rise in estimated average oil prices to $60 per barrel from 2008, instead of the $40 per barrel previously envisaged.
Higher oil prices would automatically reduce the amount of oil that Total is entitled to take in production-sharing agreements with some producer countries.
Under some production-sharing contracts companies are entitled to fixed financial rewards, meaning that as prices rise, they receive fewer barrels.
Oil prices have surged 50 per cent since the start of the year. Oil held above $75 a barrel on Wednesday ahead of the publication of US crude stocks data, and an OPEC meeting next week where supply is likely to remain unchanged.