“It turns out that TotalEnergies is an almost secondary player, in any case relatively less important than, by chance, the Saudi national company. » During a hearing of the Senate commission of inquiry into the obligations of the French oil and gas giant at the end of January, the (centrist) senator from Tarn Philippe Folliot put the weight and influence of the multinational into perspective. With an argument: TotalEnergies produces 1.4 million barrels of oil per day, or approximately 1.5% of global production and demand. A drop of black gold compared to the production of Saudi Aramco, which puts 12 million barrels per day on the market.
Does the group led by Patrick Pouyanné only play a supporting role? Philippe Copinschi, specialist in global energy issues and professor at Sciences Po, refutes the idea that the company can be qualified as a minor player. “Its weight is greater than its market share suggests”he insisted to the senators.
First, because the share of the pie held by the French company is not negligible. “There are a few big national companies, like Aramco, the Iranian NIOC or the Russian Rosneft, private majors like ExxonMobil or Shell, and very quickly we arrive at TotalEnergies”, explains Marc-Antoine Eyl-Mazzega, director of the Energy & Climate Center at the French Institute of International Relations. According to energy research and business intelligence company Rystad Energy, the group is among the top 15 companies in terms of oil and gas production volumes in 2023.
“Complex programs”
Then, while the majority of national companies essentially seek to maintain their production, private companies are active across the entire value chain, from exploration to exploitation, including distribution or transport. They are also, in large part, the ones who invest in research and development of cutting-edge technologies. These can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions linked to hydrocarbon production, but also aim to exploit deposits that are difficult to access.
“The company, renowned for its efficiency, is sought after because it knows how to run complex programs, of which there are many”underlined, during his hearing, Jean-Claude Mallet, the group’s director of public affairs. The financial strength of a player like TotalEnergies, able to rally the support of banks, can also prove decisive for a project to see the light of day.
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