Total Q1 profit falls on depressed oil prices

PARIS: French oil giant Total announced a 20 percent fall in first quarter profits on Tuesday due to slumping oil prices and disruption of its activities because of violence in Yemen and Libya.

Total said in a statement that profits for the first three months of the year dropped to $2.6 billion (2.4 billion euros) from $3.3 billion during the same period last year, on 30 percent lower sales of $42.3 billion.