The economy today
Patrick Pouyanné, boss of TotalEnergies, under fire from critics
Audio 03:26
The CEO of TotalEnergie, in 2018 in Saint Petersburg (illustration image).
REUTERS - SERGEI KARPUKHIN
By: Ariane Gaffuri Follow
4 mins
Ordered to cease these activities in Russia, Patrick Pouyanné, boss of TotalEnergies has given up the purchase of Russian oil by the end of 2022. If he maintains gas activities in Russia, he is stopping all new investments in this country.
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Patrick Pouyanné was harshly criticized, even accused of "
complicity in war crimes
", by the Europe-Ecology Les Verts candidate for the presidential election, Yannick Jadot.
Words that ulcerated him, as he says, with a lump in his throat, Wednesday with our colleagues from RTL.
“
I am an angry boss.
When Mr. Jadot accuses the 100,000 employees of Total, it's extremely serious, it's an insult.
Do you think that we are not human beings and that we do not reflect every day?
I have a photo of two people.
They are two Ukrainian soldiers, who are employees of TotalEnergies.
They are the two heroes of my company today.
And we are accused of crimes, but it is not acceptable,
defends Patrick Pouyanné.
I am told withdraw from Russia.
I give up everything?
I stop bringing Russian gas to Europeans who need it, while European governments tell us to continue because they don't want to sanction it and why they don't want to sanction it?
Because without Russian gas we shut down part of the European economy.
»
►
To read also: Ukraine: the EU puts the total embargo on Russian oil again on the sanctions table
A man in the field, Patrick Pouyanné, 58, spent his youth on the French Basque Coast, in Bayonne, where his father was regional director of customs.
A brilliant student, he became an engineer, graduated from Polytechnique, then from the École des Mines.
He started at the BNP in London, passed through the French ministerial cabinets in charge of industry and began his career in the oil sector in 1997, first at Elf, bought by Total in 2000. He is director of refining- chemistry of the group, when he took the reins in 2015, after the tragic death of CEO
Christophe de Margerie
in a plane crash near Moscow airport.
“
Patrick Pouyanné is a larger than life character.
He's someone very visible, outspoken, somewhat in the tradition of Christophe de Margerie, a very recognizable voice in the landscape of French business, but also in the landscape of the energy all over the world
", testifies Antoine Halff, co-founder of Kayrros, specialized in energy.
When Patrick Pouyanné becomes number one of Total, the barrel of black gold plummets and the value of the French giant is divided by three.
Cutting costs becomes his obsession.
It cuts exploration spending by 30% and cuts 2,000 jobs worldwide, mostly hiring freezes and unreplaced departures.
“
TotalEnergies’ first VRP
”
Driven by the Paris climate agreement, the man with an imposing stature, 1m91, is taking a new turn for the company.
“
He knew how to give the group a strategy, important changes.
He is in the process of making a turn in his group to diversify its activities towards less polluting activities, less generating greenhouse gases: solar energy, wind energy... And that he does it with determination
", explains Colette Lewiner, Energy Advisor at Capgemini.
At the head of nearly 110,000 employees in more than 130 countries around the world, the "
first VRP of TotalEnergies
", as he calls himself, invests massively in renewable energies.
“
He was a pioneer in the greening of Total, but at the same time he was also very firm in his defense of the role of hydrocarbons in the energy mix, even in a charred system.
It is a view that is very just,
remember
Antoine Halff
.
We cannot get rid of oil and gas overnight, not only that, but oil and gas have a role to play in integrating renewables into the energy mix, but also in reducing the borrows climate,
insists Antoine Halff.
Because there is a lot of progress that can be made in the oil and gas chain to reduce carbon.
»
The Russian offensive in Ukraine now forces the boss of TotalEnergies to put an end to future strategic investments in gas, which represents 80% of the group's hydrocarbon production in Russia.
However, this decision should not weigh too heavily on the company's portfolio, assures Patrick Pouyanné, Russia representing only between 3 and 5% of Total's revenues.
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