* Total's Q1 oil and gas output hits new record
* Strong oil price buoys net profit
* Says will exceed 2018 output target to over 6 pct
* Will maintain discipline on costs, investments(Adds details, background and quote)
By Bate Felix
PARIS, April 26 (Reuters) - Record output and high oilprices helped French oil and gas major Total report aconsensus-beating rise in net adjusted profit during the firstthree months of the year, with Total adding it would surpass itsproduction target for 2018.
Total's earnings echoed a similarly robust set of resultsfrom Royal Dutch Shell which also posted higher Q1profits on Thursday.
Total produced 2.703 million barrels of oil equivalent perday (boe/d) in the first quarter, driven by ramp-ups and newacquisitions, up more than 5 percent compared to the same periodin 2017, and above analysts' estimates of 2.663 million boe/d.
It said the ramp-up of production from new projects such asYamal LNG in Russia and Moho Nord in Congo, along with newlyacquired assets, including Maersk Oil and Al Shaheen in Qatar,had enabled it to reach record production during the quarter.
It marked Total's highest output ever recorded in a quarter,surpassing a previous record of 2.66 million boe/d in 2003.
Net adjusted profit came in at $2.9 billion, beatinganalysts' forecast of $2.77 billion in the quarter.
"Oil prices continued to rebound in the first quarter 2018,"said Total's Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne in astatement.
"Brent rose to an average of $67 per barrel, supported bystrong demand, OPEC-non-OPEC compliance and geopoliticaltensions," he also said.
"Cash flow after organic investments increased to $2.8billion, up by more than 50 percent from a year ago, thanks togood operational performance and continued spending discipline,"added Pouyanne.
Total said it expected to exceed its 6 percent productiontarget for 2018 thanks to the start-ups and ramp-ups of newprojects, such as Kashagan in Kazakhstan, Kaombo in Angola andIchthys in Australia, later in the year.
It said this would support its target of 5 percent per yearon average output growth between 2016 and 2022, even thoughTotal noted that the global environment remained volatile withpersistent uncertainty around the evolution of global supply.
Total also said it would continue to exercise discipline onits cost base.
It maintained 2018 investments at $15-$17 billion, with anoperating expense target of $5.5 per barrel of oil equivalent.It said cost reduction plans were ongoing, with an objective ofover $4 billion in 2018.
Total said it will raise first quarter interim dividend by3.2 percent, while Scrip shares issued in January for the second2017 interim dividend were bought back to prevent dilution.
"In addition, the group bought back a further $300 millionof shares to return to shareholders part of the benefit realizedfrom higher oil prices," Pouyanne said.
The company said in February that it planned to buy back upto $5 billion of stock over 2018-2020 to share the benefits ofhigher oil prices with investors.(Reporting by Bate Felix;Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)
