TotalEnergies' CEO Patrick Pouyanné has expressed caution regarding his company's swift return to Venezuela, stating that current conditions are not conducive to resuming significant investments in the country. Speaking at an event in Abu Dhabi, he emphasized that Venezuela requires a clear and stable regulatory framework to once again attract major international oil companies.
TotalEnergies, which exited Venezuela in 2021, believes that technical and financial challenges remain substantial. Restarting heavy oil production would entail high costs, both for transport infrastructure and for managing greenhouse gas emissions. Pouyanné estimated that increasing output by one million barrels per day would require up to $100bn in investment—a level that is difficult to achieve in current circumstances.
His remarks come as the debate over Venezuela's oil revival intensifies, particularly in the US. President Donald Trump has recently urged American companies to invest heavily in the country, while criticizing ExxonMobil's reluctance; ExxonMobil's CEO considers Venezuela "uninvestable" without significant reforms. Meanwhile, TotalEnergies is opting for a cautious approach, making any future decision contingent on a significant improvement in the local environment.
TotalEnergies SE is one of the leading worldwide oil groups. Net sales break down by activity as follows:
- refining and chemistry (43.6%): refining of petroleum products (operated, at the end of 2024, 14 refineries throughout the world) and manufacture of basic chemistry (olefins, aromatics, polyethylene, fertilizer, etc.) and of specialty chemistry (rubber, resins, adhesives, etc.). The group is also operating in trading and sea transport of crude oil and oil products;
- petroleum products distribution (38.8%): at the end of 2024 operated 13,148 service stations worldwide;
- electricity generation (10.3%): from combined cycle gas plants and renewable energies;
- gas production, trading, transport and distribution (4.6%): primarily liquefied natural gas (39.8 million tons sold in 2024), natural gas, biogas, hydrogen, liquefied petroleum gas, etc.;
- hydrocarbon operating and production (2.6%): 2.4 million barrels of oil equivalent produced per day in 2024;
- other (0.1%).
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: France (23%), Europe (41.5%), Africa (10.2%), North America (8.4%) and other (16.9%).
This super rating is the result of a weighted average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Global Valuation (Composite), EPS Revisions (4 months), and Visibility (Composite). We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions.
Investor
Investor
This super composite rating is the result of a weighted average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Fundamentals (Composite), Global Valuation (Composite), EPS Revisions (1 year), and Visibility (Composite). We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions.
Global
Global
This composite rating is the result of an average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Fundamentals (Composite), Valuation (Composite), Financial Estimates Revisions (Composite), Consensus (Composite), and Visibility (Composite). The company must be covered by at least 4 of these 5 ratings for the calculation to be performed. We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions.
Quality
Quality
This composite rating is the result of an average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Capital Efficiency (Composite), Quality of Financial Reporting (Composite), and Financial Health (Composite). The company must be covered by at least 2 of these 3 ratings for the calculation to be performed. We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions.
ESG MSCI
ESG MSCI
The MSCI ESG score assesses a company’s environmental, social, and governance practices relative to its industry peers. Companies are rated from CCC (laggard) to AAA (leader). This rating helps investors incorporate sustainability risks and opportunities into their investment decisions.
