GLOBAL – French oil giant Total has announced that it would change its name to Total Energies as it seeks to expand its renewable energy presence and reduce the share of sales it derives from oil products over the next decade.

This was disclosed by the President/Director-General of the company, Patrick Pouyannes via a video shared on its site.

“The new identity/name voices the dynamic we have collectively and resolutely launched as well as the enthusiasm that inspired us to take this course. It is based on our values and history,” he said.

“It also shows our stakeholders the path we are taking and I have no doubt that TotalEnergies will be the emblematic brand of our ambition and the banner under which we will achieve our future successes.”

“It also shows our stakeholders the path we are taking and I have no doubt that TotalEnergies will be the emblematic brand of our ambition and the banner under which we will achieve our future successes.”

Patrick Pouyannes – President, Total

Total is doing this to support the Paris Agreement, which is why it started a significant move towards new energies in 2016, so it would continue to fulfil its mission to provide more affordable, more reliable and cleaner energy in the best way.

In December 2015, the Paris Agreement woke world citizens up to the climate issues when it called for world carbon neutrality in the second half of the century.

The French oil and gas major, which like rivals suffered in 2020 as fuel consumption tumbled during the pandemic, said it would rebrand as Total Energies as it tries over the next decade to reduce oil products to a third of its sales from over half now.

The company plunged to a US$7.2 billion net loss for 2020 as a whole, hit by about US$10 billion of impairments as oil prices collapsed.

But it had already recorded most of the charges, including some linked to write downs on its Canadian oil sands assets, in the first half of 2020 and on an adjusted basis, net income came in at US$4.06 billion for the year.

Earnings fell less sharply in the fourth quarter than in the previous three months. Adjusted net income, which strips out some one-off items, was down 59% from the year earlier period to US$1.3 billion.

The group said it has already spent more than US$2 billion on acquisitions in the renewables sector in 2021 and planned to spend 20% of its investment budget for 2021 on this drive, up from about 15% in 2020.

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