There is no small profit. Particularly those of TotalEnergies, which generated $20.5 billion in net profit last year, the largest in its history. This makes Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of the group, say that TotalEnergies has become a “scapegoat” in the debate on energy prices.
“We have played our role” since the start of the war in Ukraine to ensure the energy security of France and Europe, pleaded the leader during a public exchange in Houston (Texas). The group has, for example, favored imports of liquefied natural gas to Europe.
“But at the same time, we are the scapegoat,” he lamented. “When you announce billions and billions” of euros in profits, “and at the same time citizens see the price of fuel climbing higher and higher, they think that you are making money on gasoline. It’s not true. »
“That’s the debate. We have to accept it,” he explained. “People accuse us of having generated superprofits with the war. No. These are superprofits that come from the investments we have made previously,” the CEO pleaded. The group undertook in February to cap the price of a liter of unleaded petrol or diesel at 1.99 euros at the 3,400 TotalEnergies service stations in France.