PARIS, Feb 9 (Reuters) - French oil major Totalsaid it is hunting out opportunities to buy plumb assets fromstruggling rivals after it reported better-than-expected fourthquarter net profits, thanks to costs savings that enabled it toraise its dividend.
Total rewarded shareholders with an increased fourth-quarterdividend of 0.62 euros per share, compared with 0.61 in theprevious three quarters, as adjusted net profits rose 16 percentto $2.4 billion in the quarter compared with Q4 2015.
Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne said Total'sresults "strongly outperform" its peers as the company showedits resilience during a prolonged downturn in oil prices.
Earlier this week, Total's rival BP reported that itsannual earnings had fallen for a second consecutive year.
Pouyanne added that Total's strong balance sheet andfinancial clout meant it could look for opportunities to pick upattractive assets. Total plans to make final investmentdecisions on about 10 projects within the next 18 months.
"We are in a field of opportunities. We have a good balancesheet and financial means that others do not have," Pouyannetold reporters.
"After two years of very low prices, there are companiesaround the world that have good assets but are struggling. It isleft to us to chose good assets that are of interest to us," headded. (Reporting by Bate Felix and Benjamin Mallet; Editing by SudipKar-Gupta)