They came from all over the world to meet him. Egyptians, Japanese, Kazakhs, Libyans, Saudis, Israelis, Germans… government ministers, senior civil servants, bankers, business leaders… they all parade into the windowless room where he has set up shop for two days on the second floor of the gigantic Hilton Americas in Houston, Texas.
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They have just 20 minutes to develop their arguments. Two breakfasts and three dinners a day complete an XXL agenda that stretches from 7a.m. to 10 p.m. But this exhausting schedule doesn’t seem to faze Patrick Pouyanné, CEO of TotalEnergies, who tirelessly shakes hands, listens and asks questions. Like every year, he attends CERAWeek, the global gathering of the oil and gas industry organized by Standard & Poor’s, which takes place in the middle of March. It’s the Davos of the energy industry.
When he took over as CEO in October 2014, following the sudden death in Moscow of his predecessor Christophe de Margerie, it was he who was requesting audiences. Today, it’s the other way around. People come to see him! There aren’t many French bosses who wield such influence in their professional circles. In the aisles of the event, his giant silhouette does not go unnoticed. And on the conference stage, he’s a rock star. His hard-hitting formulas elicit laughter and applause from a full house. Thanks to his 10 years at the helm of the world’s fourth-largest oil group, the 61-year-old trained engineer, who previously worked in the civil service and ministerial cabinets, has visibly grown in confidence.
Donald Trump, king of oil
How easy his life seems far from France! Since global warming became a major issue, Pouyanné has been on the front line. TotalEnergies is constantly under fire. He is sometimes accused of enriching himself by polluting, sometimes of being responsible for high prices at the pump. He has become public enemy No. 1 for activists and environmentalists. When he deems it necessary, he defends his home. But he rarely speaks out. How does he protect himself from attack? Is he still investing in fossil fuels? What impact will Donald Trump have on energy prices? How does he view the state of France? Before heading back to Paris, France’s top corporate executive, according to a new study by consultancy firm VCOMV, granted us a lengthy interview. A no-holds-barred conversation, revealing his true nature as a passionate leader, but lucid and firm in his convictions.
“Drill, baby, drill!” With this oft-repeated slogan, the unpredictable occupant of the White House has made a clean break with the Joe Biden years.
“Donald Trump has only one idea in mind: to bring down the price of oil and gasoline,” says Pouyanné. “It’s one of his campaign promises. He wants the price per barrel to fall to around $50 (from the current $70), and to achieve this he wants to increase production in the United States, put pressure on the Saudis to relax OPEC quotas, and perhaps even lift the sanctions preventing Russia from exporting its oil and gas. The time has come for deregulation on the other side of the Atlantic. The American oil & gas industry will once again be able to look for oil on federal lands, and new exploration permits will be granted in the Gulf of America,” assures the French leader. “Donald Trump is authorizing all the liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects that Joe Biden had blocked.”
It’s a message received loud and clear at TotalEnergies, which has already invested $11 billion in the United States since 2022. During CERAWeek, Pouyanné signed a partnership agreement to launch a new drilling project in the former Gulf of Mexico. “In this case, Trump is working for the Europeans,” he quips, a touch provocatively. Pouyanné believes the price of a crude barrel of oil, and therefore gasoline, should fall everywhere. And gas prices too, from 2026, when the new American production capacities will be operational.
On the other hand, the battle against global warming is likely to suffer. Pouyanné predicts that “realism is likely to prevail more or less everywhere. With the United States out of the Paris Agreement, some Southern countries will be less zealous.”
Could this jeopardize the switch to electric cars? “In the United States, Trump is killing it,” Pouyanné declares. “He believes that electric cars are only for the rich. Which, at current prices, is not entirely untrue! Even if Chinese manufacturers can make it affordable.”
For all that, he doesn’t believe in a change of course in Europe, let alone China. Even if, in a democracy, “what one parliament has decided, another can undo – it’s a question of political will.” As a personal owner of an electric vehicle, he regrets that the fleet of charging stations set up by his company – “an act of patriotism” in his eyes – only operates at 20% capacity at best.
Keen to stay on top of every issue, no matter how small, he spends a long time explaining the intractable puzzle of motorway service stations. “In summer, we’d need 40 or 50 terminals at each station, rather than 8 or 16, to cope with peaks in traffic,” he says. “But at that level, it would be philanthropy! The problem is that people who charge their cars go off to lunch. The solution would be to charge more for parking for more than ten minutes.”
On a first-name terms with heads of state
Nothing calls into question TotalEnergies’ diversification into electricity production and distribution. “By 2025, electricity will already account for more than 10% of our energy sales,” he asserts. “Our goal is to reach 20% by 2030, which will make it a real dividend-paying business. We still have five years of work to do. We’re going to do it. But that doesn’t mean we’re giving up on oil and gas. As long as we continue to have customers who demand it, we’ll continue to produce it.”
It’s easy to see why he spends most of his time flying from country to country, across every continent, to secure supplies of fossil fuels. Wherever he goes, Pouyanné deals directly and face-to-face with heads of government. “In many countries, our business represents a significant share of the government budget,” he explains. “Their leaders want to know to whom they are entrusting part of their natural resources, and who to call if things go wrong.”
It didn’t take him long to discover the importance of this particular business. “One of the first people I saw was Vladimir Putin in Sochi, after Christophe de Margerie’s accident in 2014. I said to myself: I’m here, it’s up to me to do the job. I went with the Russian boss. I was a bit impressed. And then I learned as I went along.”
His secret: don’t beat around the bush with people who aren’t always easy to deal with. “I know my dossier very well, and I’m rarely caught off guard,” he explains. “They’re dealing with someone who’s direct and clear. As their time is precious, this approach seems to work.”
Alone with the world’s leaders, but without the support of France – that’s his big regret. Under pressure to stop financing fossil fuels, all French financial players have dropped TotalEnergies. “We’re forced to turn to the Americans, the Japanese or the Italians to finance our projects,” reveals the CEO. “It’s a bit of a shame.”
Recently, he approached the White House to make progress on the Mozambique gas project, in which he is one of the main shareholders. “It’s frustrating not to be recognized in your own country,” he grumbles. “And it’s frustrating that the 30,000 employees who are proud to work for the company can no longer say so.”
Sure of himself
When the company is attacked, Pouyanné is the one taking most of the blows“The boss is a target, of course, but when you accept such responsibility, you take on the advantages and disadvantages of the position. Criticism only annoys me when it affects employees or when it starts to affect my family, which has happened once or twice. But I find that I’m mainly the target of a certain Parisian media system. When I go to the provinces, they encourage me.”
Except, that is, for the scandal caused by the oil project in Uganda. “The amount of coverage it got struck people,” he admits. “I sent members of my board of directors to the site. They came back and said, ‘What you’re doing over there is very good. If we give up, the Chinese replace us the next day. So, the project will go ahead. It might as well be done by us.”
Sure of himself, Pouyanné refuses to keep a low profile. So he doesn’t shirk from asking the tough questions about France. His assessment of the state of the country is harsh. In the duel between Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, and retailer Michel-Édouard Leclerc over higher taxes on corporate profits, he chooses his side without a second’s hesitation. “Bernard Arnault is absolutely right to criticize this additional tax burden on investors in France. The country’s driving forces are taxed too much. We’re not in a virtuous circle. It’s holding back entrepreneurs.”
More generally, he defends a clear free-market approach. “To raise the defense budget to 5% of GDP, we’re going to have to find the money somewhere! If we consider that freedom and sovereignty, and therefore having the means to defend ourselves, should take precedence over solidarity, we need to have the courage to review certain social budgets.”
How can we reduce public deficits? “The problem with French election campaigns is always more,” he asserts. When a candidate tries to say that we should do a little less, the likelihood of him or her being elected is not very great… Will someone with courage dare to say that we can’t go on like this? It’s not impossible, because I think the French are fed up with the current mess and understand the problem. They are aware that they are being disappointed.”
He follows with interest what’s happening in the United States. “The advantage of Elon Musk‘s DOGE is that it forces us to rethink everything. By starting from scratch, we have a chance to save money because we decide what we really want to do.”
He is even more concerned about another very French problem, which companies are confronted with every day. Excessive social laws and regulations are holding back development projects. “To develop renewable energies, we’re faced with diabolical procedures that take too long,” he protests. “While it takes three years to build a solar farm in the United States, it takes seven years in France. And for a project 10 times smaller! The problem is the country’s complex bureaucracy.”
Despite the good intentions repeatedly expressed by the country’s leaders to open a simplification project, the situation is not improving. “Over the years, a deep state has developed in France. Civil servants no longer trust politicians. This is accelerating with governments falling every six months. Why listen to a minister who’s not going to stay? It’s a real problem, because it reinforces the weight of an administration that tends to complicate things.”
Workaholic
As this conversation draws to a close, a question lingers in the back of our minds. How does he manage to last in such an exposed position? “This job isn’t a burden, it’s fun; more than that, it’s a passion,” he says. “After that, of course, you have to be in good health, rest and take vacations. Mine are blocked in green in the calendar and unchangeable.” His trick is to book well in advance. And go far away. The Cook Islands last year, the Solomon Islands next summer. This travel enthusiast can’t get enough. When he picks up the phone, he can forget to read the overdue work mail he’s brought with him. On the other hand, he devours detective novels and comic books, which he collects. His favorite hero: Largo Winch. An adventurer who travels the world, well, well…
