Total Energy Group announced Thursday that it achieved a net profit in the first quarter of 2023 amounting to $ 5.6 billion, an increase of 12 percent, despite the decline in gas and oil prices.

Last year, from January to March, the French conglomerate posted a net profit of $4.9 billion, but factoring in large reserves, as a result of a $4.1 billion drop in assets due to the sanctions imposed on Russia.

The increase is clearer compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2022, and amounted to +70 percent.

At the same time, the group announced the sale of its oil sands exploration operations in Canada to Suncor Energy for $4.1 billion, as part of a strategy to reduce carbon emissions after announcing at the beginning of the year a plan to spin off its Canadian assets.

And the group stated in a statement issued in conjunction with the results of the first quarter that the deal related to all the bonds of the Canadian subsidiary of the French group, “Total Energy EB Canada Ltd,” should be completed “before the end of the third quarter of 2023.”

In 2022, the French group recorded the highest profits in its history, amounting to $20.5 billion, benefiting from the rise in gas and oil prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

And after the price of a barrel of Brent oil reference exceeded the symbolic threshold of $ 102 to a large extent in the year 2022, it has declined since the first months of the year 2023, and on Thursday it recorded less than $ 80.