Operator
Operator
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Total's First Quarter 2019 Results Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode then will be a presentation followed by question-and-answer session. [Operator instructions] I must advise you that this conference is being recorded today, on Friday the 26th of April 2019. And I would now like to hand the conference over to your host today, Patrick de La Chevardière, CFO of Total. Please go ahead, sir. Patrick de La Chevardière: Thank you. Patrick de la Chevardière here. Let's go straight to the results and then to the Q&A. The environment has been volatile, starting the year weak but then gaining strength. And in this environment, we reported first quarter 2019 adjusted net income of $2.8 billion or $1.02 per share; debt adjusted cash flow of $6.5 billion, up 15% year-on-year; and very strong organic free cash flow of $3.2 billion, up 18% year-on-year, with a pre-dividend cash flow breakeven below $25 per barrel. We are in line with our February presentations and on track to grow cash flow over the coming quarter progressively as our major projects ramp up. Total has been moving at a very rapid pace in the recent years, continuing to deliver on production growth, cost reduction, portfolio management and capital discipline. One of the highlights marking our progress has been the creation of the new integrated Gas, Renewables & Power or iGRP segment. Effective this year, the LNG business, including the Upstream and Midstream operation, is being reported as part of the iGRP segment so we have provided restated past results, and the current results reflect this new format. Also this year, we have revised some of our indicators, and we have, of course, implemented IFRS 16. The group's production hit a new high of more than 2.95 million barrels per day in the first quarter, an increase of 9% year-on-year and 2.4% quarter-on-quarter. In February presentation, we highlight three start-ups that would contribute $3 billion of cash flow in 2019 with Brent at $60 per barrel. And all three, Egina, Kaombo North and South and Icthys, have started and are ramping up now. Operationally, Upstream is on track and performing very well, and our main priority is to FID new major projects like Mero two in Brazil and Arctic LNG two in Russia to lock in low development costs and ensure profitable growth well into the next decade. I would also like to point out that exploration has delivered some good news recently. In our core North Sea area, we made the Glengorm gas condensate recovery, the largest in the area since 2008 on a block that was part of the Maersk acquisition. And in deep offshore South Africa, we made a significant play-opening discovery with the Brulpadda well. For the redefined E&P segment, first quarter adjusted net operating income was $1.7 billion compared to $1.8 billion a year ago and $2.0 billion in the previous quarter. Brent averaged $63 per barrel in first quarter compared to $69 per barrel in the fourth quarter. Our average liquid pipes realization was stable quarter-to-quarter at $59 per barrel, reflecting mainly the rebound in Canadian differentials. Natural gas, however, was down about 10% from previous quarter to $4.5 per million BTU mainly due to mild weather in the first quarter. And I should point out that exploration expenses increased by about $100 million in the first quarter compared to previous quarter and the same quarter last year. Our confidence in the future has been reinforced by the strong cash flow delivered this quarter despite the lower Brent and gas prices. In the first quarter, the redefined E&P segment generated cash flow before working capital change of $4.2 billion, a 9% increase compared to the previous quarter. Volume growth from cash-accretive new projects more than offset the lower price. Moving to iGRP. This new segment spearheads our ambitions in fast-growing integrated gas LNG and low-carbon electricity businesses. Overall, LNG sales were 7.7 million tonnes in the first quarter, double compared to 3.8 million tonnes in the first quarter last year and stable compared to 7.9 million tonnes in the previous quarter. iGRP adjusted net operating income was $0.6 billion in the first quarter 2019, an increase of 23% year-on-year. iGRP generated $0.6 billion of cash flow before working capital changes in the first quarter, a 50% increase compared to the first quarter last year, reflecting mainly the 50% increase in our equity LNG production. Quarter-on-quarter, iGRP cash flow before working capital changes was stable despite the sharp drop in NBP and LNG spot prices. Total's portfolio of LNG projects is unmatched in the industry. Yamal LNG and Icthys LNG are ramping up, and Cameron LNG train 1 is set to start in May. We signed the definitive agreement for our entry into Arctic LNG 2 as well as the gas agreement with the State of Papua New Guinea to clear the way for Papua LNG. In North America, we are working with our partners to add two additional trains at Cameron as well progressing the ECA project in Baja, Mexico. And we further committed to invest in Tellurian's Driftwood LNG project. In addition, we are actively pursuing the expansion of Nigeria LNG with an FID target by the end of this year. By 2020, we expect our LNG business to grow to 40 million tonnes a year or 10% of the global market. And the new iGRP segment provides us with a platform to effectively optimize profitability along the entire LNG value chain. The iGRP segment is active in many growing markets. In the first quarter, we announced a 10-year LNG supply agreement with Guanghui Energy in China that calls for 0.7 million tonnes a year that will source from our global portfolio. On the marketing side, we have merged Total Spring into Direct Energie, and the combined entity is now trading as Total Direct Energie. We also announced that our Saft battery unit is creating a joint venture with the Chinese group Tianneng to develop and manufacture advanced lithium ion cell for EV, e-bike and energy storage solutions or ESS. China is the largest and fastest growing market for EV and lithium ion batteries. Turning to downstream, I think most of you already know this story well. We are concentrating our new investment in growth areas mainly advantaged feedstock, Brownfield expansion of petrochemicals in R&C and entries to the new fast-growing larger market for M&S. These segments are important to total in terms of consistently generating high returns and providing a countercyclical source of free cash flow. Refining & Chemicals generated $0.8 billion of adjusted net operating income in the first quarter compared to $0.7 billion a year ago and $0.9 billion in the previous quarter in part due to margin volatility. For refining, we changed reference indicator to the average margin on variable cost achieved by our own European refineries, and this was $33 per tonne in the first quarter compared to $30 per tonne a year ago and $41 per tonne in the fourth quarter. Petrochemical margins in Europe, while still relatively strong, are generally been running below their 2018 levels. Marketing generated $343 million of adjusted net operating income in the first quarter, stable compared to the first and fourth quarter of last year. The combined Downstream segment, R&C plus M&S, generated operating cash flow before working capital changes of $1.7 billion in the first quarter, in line with the annual $6.5 billion to $7 billion contribution we have been delivering in recent years. In terms of profitability, the Downstream continue to be remarkably strong with ROACE of 24% for the two segments over the past 12 months. At the corporate level, organic free cash flow was $3.2 billion in the first quarter. The pre-dividend organic breakeven is below $25 per barrel. Including net acquisition of $0.3 billion, capital investment was $3.1 billion in the first quarter. Our guidance for 2019 capital investments remain at $15 billion to $16 billion. In terms of profitability, the group return on equity was 12% for the 12 months ended March 31, 2019, stable compared to 12% for the year 2018. Gearing at the end of the first quarter remained below 20% despite including the impact of applying the new IFRS 16 standard for leases, which increased the net debt-to-capital ratio by more than 3%. A strategic priority for the group is to maintain a strong balance sheet with gearing below 20%, and we are committed to this objective even under the new IFRS rules. We are also committed to increasing returns to shareholder, and we are on track with the 2018-2020 framework that we presented in February. We increased the first interim dividend for 2019 by 3.1% in euros, and we are in line with the target to increase the dividend by 10% over the 2018-2020 period. We have bought back the scrip shares issued since 2018, and we will eliminate the scrip dividend as of June. Last year, we set a target to buy back $1 billion of stocks in a $60 per barrel Brent environment, and we bought back $1.5 billion. This year, we have set the target at $1.5 billion, again based on a $60 per barrel environment. And in the first quarter, we bought back $350 million of stocks. Globally, in dollars, we returned 38% of operating cash flow before working capital to shareholders in the first quarter. We are continuing to grow the Company, reduce the breakeven and manage our portfolio. Free cash flow is increasing, particularly in the current environment, and this allows us to deliver on our objective of strengthening the balance sheet and increasing returns to shareholder. And now let's go to the Q&A.