The hypothesis of a move of the main listing of the group to New York has provoked a lively debate.
Patrick Pouyanné, May 30, 2023, in Billy-Berclau-Douvrin (AFP / PASCAL ROSSIGNOL)
The CEO of TotalEnergies, Patrick Pouyanné, solemnly repeated Friday May 24 in front of his shareholders that there was “no question (…) of leaving France”, a few weeks after having mentioned a possible relocation of the main listing of the Paris group on the New York Stock Exchange.
“There is no question in this matter of leaving France:
TotalEnergies will retain its headquarters in France, its listing in France, our attachment to France is real and I do not need to justify it”
declared Patrick Pouyanné, adding that “one idea is simply to be able to offer American investors the same TotalEnergies ordinary shares as those we offer to our European shareholders”.
“I never said that TotalEnergies would leave France”
In an interview with
Figaro
published the day before, Patrick Pouyanné mentioned a “translation error” to explain the rumor of a main listing on Wall Street, confirming only that he was studying a stock listing “in New York, as in Paris”.
“There is no question of leaving France. I never said that TotalEnergies would leave France, or even the Paris Stock Exchange. We are commenting on rumors, on sentences that I have never uttered”,
he said, in this interview published Thursday.
Facing shareholders, the CEO of the French energy company also reiterated that it was “necessary” to put “new” oil fields into production. “The question is not so much when oil demand will start to fall as when it will fall by more than 4% per year,” said Mr. Pouyanné. “At this point, the demand for oil continues to grow as the world population does,” he said.
Pouyanné against the AIE’s “new Bible”
The boss of TotalEnergies warned against the effects of a contrary orientation, which would result in an increase in oil prices which would reach “too high levels which would quickly become unbearable for the populations of emerging countries but also for those of our developed nations”. Recently, the CEO castigated “a new Bible” regarding the recommendations of the International Energy Agency which bans all new oil and gas projects.
