TotalEnergies makes a gigantic profit with the rise in prices

Europe 1 with AFP 11:43 a.m., February 10, 2022

TotalEnergies has announced that it has made a net profit of 16 billion dollars in 2021. These profits revealed on Thursday, equivalent to 13.5 billion euros at the average price of last year, are the highest for at least 15 years.

They are even slightly higher than the 13.2 billion euros of 2007, the previous record year, even if the evolution of exchange rates makes comparisons difficult.

They follow a historic loss of 7.2 billion dollars in 2020 due to the Covid-19 crisis, which had weighed on oil prices, and depreciations.

A surge in prices that benefits the group

"We entered 2021 cautiously, we didn't know where we were going at the start of the year, and we saw an environment completely turn around," CEO Patrick Pouyanné commented to journalists on Thursday.

"We took full advantage of this favorable environment, especially in the second half of the year," he said.

The group benefited in particular from its activities in liquefied natural gas (LNG).

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TotalEnergies thus took advantage of the surge in hydrocarbon prices last year against a backdrop of global economic recovery and still limited production in certain countries.

The barrel of Brent from the North Sea was thus worth 70.9 dollars a barrel in 2021, against only 41.8 dollars the previous year, and gas prices have been multiplied by 5 in Europe.

Benefits "on the backs of French women and men"

However, the group's hydrocarbon production fell by 2% over the year.

In 2021, the group's adjusted net profit (which excludes certain exceptional events and serves as a benchmark) reached $18.1 billion, a 4.4-fold increase compared to 2020.

These huge benefits, in the midst of the energy crisis, with rising costs for households, had been the subject of criticism even before their publication.

The environmental candidate Yannick Jadot had denounced Wednesday profits "on the backs of the French and the French" while "the bills of gas and gasoline which increase, it is for the benefit of the shareholders".

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"You just have to take them, so much the better", had launched the rebellious leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon during a meeting.

TotalEnergies already pays nearly 30% of its added value to the States, and pays 1.9 billion euros in various contributions in France, underlines its CEO.

"If more value were taken, it would either be at the expense of investments, employees or shareholders," Pouyanné said.

The good results of BP and Shell in the United Kingdom had also recently prompted calls for an exceptional tax. 

A gas check of 100 euros for customers in a situation of "fuel poverty"

Faced with the current outbreak, TotalEnergies unveiled Wednesday a discount at the pump in its stations located in rural areas in France, as well as a "gas check" of 100 euros for its gas customers in a situation of "fuel poverty".

"It's not minimal," assured Thursday Mr. Pouyanné in the face of criticism of this offer.

Yannick Jadot had joked about "Total's charity vis-à-vis its consumers".

For 2022, oil prices could "maintain at high levels", estimates the group.

"After reaching historic highs in the fourth quarter of 2021, gas prices have remained very high in Europe and Asia since the start of 2022, driven by geopolitical uncertainties in Europe despite a mild winter season", also notes TotalEnergies.

The group, which is diversifying more and more into green energies, specifies that it will allocate 3.5 billion dollars this year to net investments in renewables and electricity, or 25% of its investments.