This is an anecdote that tells, once again, the level of mistrust that surrounds TotalEnergies. Dripping stains of blood red paint, projected onto the large bay windows which mark the entrance to the Coupole de la Défense tower where the multinational has its headquarters and which could not decently have gone unnoticed by the employees having delivered on Wednesday.
A symbolic action, reminiscent of previous projections on the Ministries of Economy or Ecology, which falls precisely on the day when the French company announced its results, let’s say it right away, historic. Driven by the explosion in the price of hydrocarbons and electrons on the world markets, TotalEnergies publishes a stratospheric turnover of 280 billion dollars, as well as a profit of 20.5 billion euros, an increase of 28% over one year. Without the massive depreciation of 15 billion made by the multinational in its accounts vis-à-vis its activities in Russia and in particular in the capital of the oil company Novatek, the figure would have been much higher still.
“The year is characterized for the first time by parameters which were all positive”, soberly summed up this Wednesday morning Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of the company, at a press conference. With the price of Brent fluctuating on average at 101 dollars per barrel over the year ended, a refinery margin at 94 dollars per ton, the price of liquefied natural gas or transported by pipeline also increasing sharply (200 dollars per barrel approximately ) like the electricity prices which are closely linked to it, TotalEnergies benefited from truly exceptional market conditions. The price at which it produces its barrel being relatively stable, the profit explodes mechanically. “The returns on equity are at levels that we would never have imagined to see one day”, explained the CEO, who hastened to detail how this loot was spent. History to defuse in advance the criticisms on the accusation of “crisis profiteering” of which TotalEnergies is the object.
Protesters threw paint at the headquarters of TotalEnergies this Wednesday, February 8, 2023
© / Lucas Mediavilla
The day before, about 150 activists from a collective put up a few hundred posters in a dozen cities to criticize a group which “gave” itself on the back of the “energy crisis and the destruction of the climate”. In a column published on the Franceinfo site, also before the results of this Wednesday, 11 authors of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), including Valérie Masson-Delmotte or Yamina Saheb, are for their part taken in the company’s climate action. “TotalEnergies is very far from taking into account the conclusions of the IPCC in the evaluation of its carbon neutrality strategy aimed at complying with the commitments of the Paris agreement”, say the authors. The latter denounce TotalEnergies’ strategy of continued investment in fossil fuels, a headlong rush that would lock in a level of CO2 in the atmosphere incompatible with limiting the temperatures of the planet by the end of the century.
Patrick Pouyanné, he sticks to his line and prints his rhythm of transition. A strategy of “at the same time” – the world still needs oil and gas and TotalEnergies also to finance the group’s shift towards low carbon energies – which he had formulated in a lengthy interview with L’Express and that he always defends with the same vigour. Investment in low carbon energies will reach 5 billion in 2023, which is not nothing. With 7 gigawatts of renewable electricity added to the company’s portfolio in 2022, Patrick Pouyanné even recalls that this is the fastest growth rate achieved by the energy company, behind the Italian renewable energy champion, Enel.
The fact remains that ultimately, 70% of the group’s 16 to 18 billion euros of investments will still be devoted to hydrocarbons in 2023, including 4.5 billion euros for new oil and gas projects. This, even though the International Energy Agency (IEA) indicated in a previous report that it was necessary to urgently cut all funding for new fossil energy projects in order to respect the Paris agreement. “Everyone is acting as if this IEA report was the new bible. What we see in reality is that it is false in the short term”, decided the CEO on Wednesday, recalling that in 2023 , demand is expected at 101.7 million barrels, an unprecedented level, while the theoretical trajectory provided for was that of a decline of 4% per year. Faith of Pouyanné, who is surprised by a debate that has become Manichean, if investments dry up in fossil fuels, the resulting explosion in prices would become “hellish” for households.
For many of them in France, this already says the case. And the discrepancy with the profits made by the multinational is no doubt all the more unbearable, even if the vast majority of them are made outside the country, it must be remembered. The CEO, may well present the 550 million euros in gasoline rebates in France last year – and his inclination to provide new ones if necessary, the aid granted to the 6,000 SMEs in France to bring back the increase in their bill to the same level as that of VSEs, the 7.5% increase in French employees, profit-sharing bonuses which are added to the dividends distributed to employee shareholders, etc. The 10 billion in dividends paid last year ( ordinary or exceptional), as well as the 7 billion in share buybacks still weigh very heavily on the opposite side, on the balance of value sharing.
A question of fair distribution that obviously also arises when we talk about the future of the planet. Wasn’t there, out of these 17 billion – including 7 billion intended to strengthen the share price of an already ultra-solid company – a share that could have reinforced the weight of renewable energies in the group? Especially, according to the company itself, that these generate significant returns on investments, in the interests of shareholders? To this thorny question, the boss in any case split with a rather laconic no, judging that, if it could do more, the multinational would have done it. While transforming into a multi-energy group, TotalEnergies remains on this point a company more than ever faithful to the tradition of the major oil groups, always generous with their shareholders.
But faced with the climate emergency and the rumbling social crisis, will Patrick Pouyanné and TotalEnergies be able to stay on this crest line for long? While the pressure is mainly social, even political, today, tomorrow it could shift to the judicial aspect. In view of the various complaints lodged against the group, under the greenwashing of which he would be guilty, or that of his duty of vigilance, the skirmishes multiply. On January 18, the UN Secretary General called for the oil majors to be brought to justice, like the tobacco industry before them. Convinced that its strategy and pace of transition are the right ones, Patrick Pouyanné and TotalEnergies risk having to defend themselves tomorrow before the judges.