Patrick Pouyanne, Chairman and CEO at TotalEnergies
No investor punishment for TotalEnergies loosening the purse strings
The European major’s upping of capex forecasts is not ringing alarm bells despite wider shareholder desire for discipline
“We have a good problem, which is… we have more cash; where do we allocate it?” Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of TotalEnergies, told the Energy Intelligence Forum in October. But the firm’s plans to bump up the higher range for its annual capex from $14-16bn to $14-18bn has not spooked investors leery of another boom-and-bust cycle of IOCs overinvesting during a period of high prices. “We have decided that it is an opportunity to accelerate our strategy of transformation,” Pouyanne continues. “I know that some people say, ‘oh, they lose discipline,’” he concedes. “I am not sure we lose discipline to add $2bn when we have much more cash. I think it is normal, it is logical. “Most of it is dedicated t
Also in this section
20 September 2024
A profound shift is occurring in the global refining sector, one which might help redefine Africa’s place in worldwide trade networks
20 September 2024
European oil and gas firms are taking a different approach to the transition when compared with their American cousins. The second part of the fifth chapter of our history of oil and gas examines the ocean separating IOCs
19 September 2024
Lack of competitiveness in refining sector and underbaked oil reserves threaten long-term stability
18 September 2024
In the first part of the fifth chapter of our history of oil and gas, we move the story on to the climate crisis and push for net-zero carbon emissions
