French oil major Total SA's (TOT) second-quarter earnings will be lower than a year earlier due to the drop in oil prices, Total Chairman and Chief Executive Christophe de Margerie said Friday.

"Definitely, with a price which was at the time [second-quarter 2009] half of what it was last year at the same time, we will not get the same results," de Margerie said, on the sides of an economics conference in Aix-en-Provence, southern France.

Total posted second-quarter 2008 net profit of EUR4.73 billion, up 39% on the year.

"We have the capabilities financially and with our portfolio to continue to grow and expecting of course a better environment," he said.

He played down the impact of the second quarter on the company's health.

"That's not a big change for the company. You just have to be concerned about the fact that this crisis exists and it exists also for big companies," he said.

Discussions with Iran's authorities continue regarding the development of the South Pars natural gas field.

"They haven't been interrupted nor did they start again, they're near a not-so-advanced stage," he said.

De Margerie said he intends to maintain working relationships with Iran, despite the current local political situation.

"All we're looking for is that things calm down," he said, adding liquefied natural gas matters "are very complex," and that Chinese energy companies "don't have the same expertise" as Total when it comes to LNG.

Reports in Iran recently suggested that Total, which plans to be part of the LNG project, would be replaced by China National Petroleum Corp.

As for Venezuela, "we are thinking as part of our policy to find new long term partnerships if Venezuela, which is not an easy country, can be a place where Total plus CNPC could be stronger than Total on its own or CNPC on its own," de Margerie said.

According to sources involved in the bidding round, Total and CNPC now plan to bid for two oil large blocks being auctioned in Venezuela.

Total doesn't intend to be an important investor in French state-controlled nuclear group Areva (CEI.FR), de Margerie also said.

Total owns 1% of Areva's capital equity and "if, to help, we must do a little gesture, we'll see, but we will never be an important investor in Areva," he added.

Areva earlier this week announced a EUR1.5 billion rights issue.

He said he had detailed discussions with Iraqi authorities during his trip there Thursday.

He explained to them why Total refused to accept the terms that were offered by the Iraqi government to grant oil field development rights.

"We will do our best on both sides to find solutions so that Total can participate in the near term (and) medium term to the development of the huge resources of Iraq," he said.

He said that all companies that bid - except one - turned down the remuneration term offered by the Iraqi authorities in its tender offer process.

-By Geraldine Amiel and Nathalie Boschat, Dow Jones Newswires; +33 1 40171740; geraldine.amiel@dowjones.com, nathalie.boschat@dowjones.com;