TOTALENERGIES: Energy Transition Sparks Total Transformation
In June it was officially unveiled that French group Total, one of the world’s biggest energy companies, had finalised its rebranding to TotalEnergies SE, with a brand-new logo to boldly usher in its transition to net zero. In the midst of its transformation into a broad energy company, and renewable subjected to a keener focus than ever, oil remains integral to TotalEnergies’s seven key energy segments, buoyed by news of the fourth phase of the giant Mero deep-water project.
A broad energy company, TotalEnergies produces and markets energies on a global scale, from oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases to renewables and electricity. 105,000 employees are committed to making energy increasingly more affordable, clean, reliable and as accessible as possible.
Active in more than 130 countries, TotalEnergies puts sustainable development at the heart of its operations and movements; a commitment that comprises four key elements. It strives to create value for society and generate shared prosperity across regions, while retaining its leading name as an employer and a responsible operator. Environmental excellence is at the fore, too, pushing progress around environmental stewardship.
Arguably most pivotal is the group’s desire to lead the transformation of the energy model to combat climate change, and respond to people’s needs through prioritising sustainable energies to an unprecedented degree.
“We are reinventing and diversifying our energy offering to promote renewable and decarbonised energies,” TotalEnergies explains, “as well as sparing, well-considered use of fossil energies.
“By moving to new energies, we are also encouraging our customers to change their consumption habits, prefer energy efficiency and turn to low-carbon solutions first.”
FULL OF ENERGIES
On May 28th this year, this drive was solidified in the most definitive way possible when, after an almost unanimous shareholder decision at the Annual General Meeting, Total officially became TotalEnergies, anchoring its strategic transformation into a broad energy company in its identity.
“Energy is life. We all need it and it’s a source of progress,” expressed Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO of TotalEnergies. “So today, to contribute to the sustainable development of the planet facing the climate challenge, we are moving forward, together, towards new energies.
“Energy is reinventing itself, and this energy journey is ours. Our ambition is to be a world-class player in the energy transition. That is why Total is transforming and becoming TotalEnergies.”
The overarching aim is to reduce direct emissions to net zero by 2050, via a carbon neutrality ambition that is as grand as it is admirable. With $60 billion earmarked to finance renewable projects over the coming 10 years, TotalEnergies is seeking its seat among the world’s top five renewables companies by 2030.
“This decision aims to anchor in our identity the strategic transformation we have undertaken,” went on Pouyanné, “so we can fulfil our mission of providing more affordable, clean and reliable energy to as many people as possible more effectively than ever.
“More energy, fewer emissions: that is the dual challenge the world and the energy industry are facing. At TotalEnergies, we intend to help meet that challenge.”
The re-imagined new name is twinned with a refreshed visual identity to fully distinguish TotalEnergies, as it blazes the trail it has so determinedly set for itself to become the exemplar broad energy company. “The T and the E of TotalEnergies draw a symbol, the energy journey,” TotalEnergies says of its logo, “it is a journey, a path whose course is in motion. It starts from our origin, Total, and leads to the new TotalEnergies brand.”
There are seven colours, for as many energies. Oil begins this depiction, with shades travelling through natural gas, electricity, hydrogen and biomass to wind and solar. “In the coming decade, TotalEnergies will become a truly broad energy company and major player in the energy transition so we can contribute to the planet’s sustainable development in the face of the climate challenge,” summed up Pouyanné.
MEANINGFUL GROWTH
The transformation is underpinned by a raft of shifting balances, away from old priorities and very much toward a new era and picture. Between now and 2030 natural gas will look to grow in sales even further, from 40% to 50%, while oil will see a marked drop from representing the vast majority of sales at 55% to 35% over the next decade.
Biofuels production will also look to explode, up to five million tons per year from less than one million currently, while EV charge points look set to become vastly more numerous and hit 150,000 by 2025.
In line with its ambitions TotalEnergies is naturally targeting renewable energies in a massive way, in terms both of investment and gross capacity over the next 10 years. At present this stands at seven gigawatts, set to increase to almost twice the installed capacity of the French nuclear fleet (60W) and reach 100GW by 2030.
Renewable electricity production growth ambitions gained real traction in 2020, more than doubling in just one year. Several agreements signed both last year and this have swelled TotalEnergies’s solar power portfolio, including entry into the fast-growing Spanish market with 5.3GW of photovoltaic projects developed with three partners: Powertis, Solarbay Renewable Energy and Ignis.
TotalEnergies has also made a meaningful entrance into offshore wind power, with a project portfolio offering a cumulative capacity of around 5.5GW staking out a strong position.
“In the United Kingdom,” the group details, “we’ve invested in Erebus, a pioneering floating offshore wind project in the Welsh Celtic Sea, and in Seagreen, the largest offshore wind farm project in Scotland.
“In South Korea, we have a 50-50 partnership with Macquarie to develop a portfolio of five floating offshore wind farms, and in France we acquired a stake in EolMed, a pilot floating wind project in the Mediterranean. TotalEnergies brings its expertise in offshore operations to this leading-edge industry.”
BRAZIL OIL PROGRESS
TotalEnergies’s new identity was proposed when it presented its full-year 2020 results in February. The company outlined a plan to sharpen its focus on LNG, renewables, and electricity, alongside the associated drop in oil product sales. The key word in its transition is broad, however, and while reliance on it will diminish, TotalEnergies is still wholeheartedly committed to viable large-scale oil developments.
“In a volatile oil and gas market,” the company says, “our strategy is to invest selectively in projects with competitive production costs. Our investment objective is to focus on quality over quantity. Exemplifying this is Mero, a deep-water field located 180 kilometres off the coast of Rio de Janeiro in the prolific pre-salt area of the Santos Basin, and already the site of several discoveries.
In August, we learned that the Mero 4 Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) unit will boast a liquid treatment capacity of 180,000 barrels per day and is expected to start up by 2025. It follows investment decisions for Mero 1,2 and 3, each expected to start up a year after the other commencing in 2022, and all of to have the 180,000 barrels capacity.
“The decision to launch Mero 4 marks the last milestone in the large-scale development of the Mero oil resources,” concluded Arnaud Breuillac, President Exploration & Production at TotalEnergies. “This giant project is in line with TotalEnergies’ growth strategy in Brazil which is to produce oil at a competitive cost out of world class fields while limiting CO₂ emissions to a strict minimum.”