Total takes $6.5 bln impairment in Q4 as profits fall

PARIS, Feb 12 (Reuters) - French oil major Total (Swiss: FP.SW - news) took a $6.5 billion writedown in the fourth quarter on Canadian oil sands, U.S. shale gas and European refining assets as the collapse in crude oil prices sent net adjusted profits down 10 percent.

The total impairment over 2014 was $7.1 billion, with a target to decrease the group's breakeven point by $40 per barrel to about $70, Chief Financial Officer Patrick de La Chevardiere told reporters on Thursday.

The group's net adjusted profit fell 17 percent to $2.801 billion this quarter from the same period a year ago, while revenue fell 19 percent to $52.511 billion, the group said in a statement.

The Paris-based company is the last of the Western world's five big oil majors to publish fourth-quarter results, which have featured shrinking profits, capital spending reductions and job cuts as the collapse in oil prices took a toll.

Analysts on average expected a 23.8 percent fall in net adjusted profit to $2.71 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S estimates.

Total said it would propose a fourth-quarter dividend of 0.61 euros a share. (Reporting by Michel Rose; Editing by James Regan)