TotalEnergies S.E.
Profile
Total is a fossil fuel exploration company. Founded in 1924 as the Compagnie Française des Pétroles (French Petroleum Company) with the support of the French government and banks, it was renamed Total in 1985. It is the biggest shareholder and operator of the Yadana gas pipeline in Burma (now Myanmar) where the army was accused of forced labor and killing in the Tennaserim peninsula. In 2005 the company paid out €5.2 million to eight Burmese villagers who sued the company for human rights abuses. Total has also been sued by villagers in the Lake Albert region of Uganda for land grabbing. In 2018, the company was denied drilling permits in Brazil's sensitive Foz do Amazonas basin.
Oil / gas exploration and production, natural gas and LNG trading and transportation, oil refining, chemicals, solar and biomass development
Violations
| Top 5 Offense Groups (Groups Defined) | Penalty Total | Number of Records |
|---|---|---|
| competition-related offenses | $398,200,000 | 2 |
| environment-related offenses | $61,379,414 | 114 |
| government-contracting-related offenses | $15,000,000 | 1 |
| financial offenses | $3,600,000 | 1 |
| safety-related offenses | $264,000 | 18 |
(September 30, 2022)
Stories
Activism
Campaign groups accuse Total of breaching French corporate duty law in Uganda
Reuters | June 25, 2019
French and Ugandan campaign groups including Friends of the Earth have filed a legal notification with Total, claiming it has failed to address the human and environmental impact of its Ugandan operations as required by French law.
Greenpeace protesters abseil into oil firm Total's AGM
Mark Sweney | The Guardian | June 1, 2018
More than 250 Greenpeace activists hijacked Total’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Paris to protest at the oil company’s plans to drill in the mouth of the Amazon and French Guiana.
Activists Spill Symbolic Oil at the Louvre to Protest Its Sponsorship Deal
Claire Voon | HyperAllergic | March 9, 2017
Protestors dressed in all black staged a dramatic performance at the Louvre last Sunday to pressure the museum to cut its 20-year-long ties with French multinational oil and gas company Total S.A.
- Survie
- Sherpa
- France Nature Environment
- Africa Institute for Energy Governance
- Milieudefensie
- Sierra Club
- IndustriALL Global Union
- Amnesty International
- Extinction Rebellion
- Corporate Watch
- EarthRights International
- EarthWorks
- Environmental Rights Action, Friends of the Earth Nigeria
- Friends of the Earth Europe
- Friends of the Earth International
- Greenpeace
- International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers’ Unions
- Natural Resources Defense Council
- Oil Change International
- Pacific Environment
- Publish What You Pay
- SOMO-Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations
- Transparency International
- A Community Voice
- Alliance for Affordable Energy
- Climate Reality New Orleans
- Coalition Against Death Alley
- Healthy Gulf
- Justice and Beyond
- Louisiana Bucket Brigade
- Louisiana League of Conscious Voters
- New Orleans Office Sierra Club
- Poor Peoples Campaign
- SouthWings
- Sunrise Movement, New Orleans
- RISE St. James
- 350 New Orleans
& Lawsuits
Environmental groups sue TotalEnergies over climate marketing claims
Simon Jessop, Gloria Dickie & Benjamin Mallet | Reuters | March 2, 2021
A group of environmental organisations has filed a lawsuit in France against the country's largest energy company TotalEnergies, accusing it of misleading consumers about its efforts to fight climate change.
Oil giant Total is being sued by cities and NGOs for not fighting climate change hard enough
Francois de Beaupuy | Fortune | January 28, 2020
Oil giant Total SA is being sued by 14 local governments and a handful of non-governmental organizations in France for not doing enough to reduce its carbon emissions and fight global warming.
6 NGOs file lawsuit against Total over alleged failure to respect French Duty of Vigilance law in its operations in Uganda
Business & Human Rights Resource Center | October 24, 2019
The judges ruled in favour of Total, confirming the judgment of the first instance court which considered that this dispute fell within the jurisdiction of the commercial court. Civil society believes that this decision is contrary to the spirit of this law and harmful to its implementation.
Violations at Port Arthur refinery bring $8.75 million fine
Emily Pickrell | Houston Chronicle | September 20, 2013
Total Petrochemical will pay an $8.8 million fine for violating a 2007 air pollution settlement over emissions at its Port Arthur refinery, the Justice Department said Friday.
Total settles U.S. bribe probe for $398 million; CEO may be tried
Muriel Boselli & Jonathan Stempel | Reuters | May 29, 2013
Total SA TOTF.PA agreed to pay $398.2 million to settle U.S. criminal and civil allegations that it paid bribes to win oil and gas contracts in Iran, and a French prosecutor has recommended that the company and its chief executive be brought to trial in its home country.
SEC Charges Total S.A. for Illegal Payments to Iranian Official
United States Securities and Exchange Commission | May 29, 2013
The Securities and Exchange Commission today charged France-based oil and gas company Total S.A. with violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) by paying $60 million in bribes to intermediaries of an Iranian government official who then exercised his influence to help the company obtain valuable contracts to develop significant oil and gas fields in Iran.
Total to pay $15 mln to settle US false claims case
Reuters | February 22, 2012
Units of French energy concern Total have agreed to pay $15 million to settle U.S. allegations that they underpaid royalties on natural gas from federal and Indian leases, the U.S. Justice Department said on Wednesday.
Environmental Impacts
Early warnings and emerging accountability: Total’s responses to global warming, 1971–2021
Christophe Bonneuil, Pierre-Louis Choquet, & Benjamin Franta | Science Direct | November 2021
We show that Total personnel received warnings of the potential for catastrophic global warming from its products by 1971, became more fully informed of the issue in the 1980s, began promoting doubt regarding the scientific basis for global warming by the late 1980s, and ultimately settled on a position in the late 1990s of publicly accepting climate science while promoting policy delay or policies peripheral to fossil fuel control.
Six Texas Oil Refineries Are Among the Nation’s Worst Benzene Polluters, Data Shows
Christopher Collins | Texas Observer | February 6, 2020
The 367-mile Texas Gulf Coast now holds an unenviable honor: It is home to six of the nation’s most prolific polluters of benzene, an invisible, deadly gas that elevates cancer rates.
& Relations
Total's French refinery, storage workers out on strike
Argus Media | February 3, 2021
Workers are staging 48-hour strikes at all of Total's French refineries and other downstream facilities, in protest at anticipated job losses.
Sacked Total ‘workers’ protest unfair treatment
Ben Ezeamalu | Premium Times | June 13, 2016
Several workers who worked in the security department of Total E&P Nigeria Limited on Monday protested the non-payment of their severance packages by the company.
French Oil Giant Total S.A. Still Linked To Killings and Forced Labor in Burma (Myanmar)
Earth Rights International | December 16, 2009
(Total)continues to be linked to killings and forced labor in Burma and continues to mislead policymakers, investors, and the general public about its impacts in the military-ruled country, according to the Washington DC-based nongovernmental organization Earth Rights International (ERI).
Financials
Croctail Subsidiary Tool using the CorpWatch API - This API extracts the subsidiary relationship information from Exhibit 21 of companies' 10-K filings with the US SEC.
- CIK numbers link to SEC database (EDGAR)
- Section 21 links to SEC list of companies.
- Total SA Croctail Profile
Click here for the latest data.
Political Influence
Open Secrets - Tracks corporate lobbying of US politicians.
OpenSecrets.org Profile of TotalEnergies
Import & Export Data
ImportYeti - Shipping Tracking Tool - Bill of ladings are public information that are too cost prohibitive, challenging to obtain and difficult to use for the average joe. ImportYeti's goal is to solve that problem.
- ImportYeti Profile of TotalEnergies
TotalEnergies to hike LNG production in US
Reuters | April 11, 2022
TotalEnergies said on Monday it would step up its liquefied natural gas activities in the United States by expanding production at the Cameron site in Louisiana.
TotalEnergies and Iraq agree to a $27bn deal
The Economist | September 11, 2021
BEING AN OIL-INDUSTRY boss is an exercise in displeasing all sides. Pumping hydrocarbons out of the ground is lucrative, but angers environmentalists—including those sitting in boardrooms and governments. Renewables and other green projects are more palatable, but often fail to woo investors.
Total oil project hurts 'tens of thousands' in rural Uganda: watchdog NGOs
France 24 | October 20, 2020
Tens of thousands of Ugandan farmers have lost access to their fields to make way for a major oil project launched by French oil giant Total, which has paid no compensation for the fallout from its new pipeline plan, two environmental watchdogs said Tuesday.
Total to pay $2.9 million, upgrade Port Arthur refinery
Nick Snow | Oil & Gas Journal | May 2, 2007
Total Petrochemicals USA Inc. agreed to pay $2.9 million in fines and upgrade pollution controls at its 240,000 b/d Port Arthur, Tex., refinery to settle federal charges that it violated the Clean Air Act, the US Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency said May 1.
Procurement
Total S.A. contracts with the U.S. Federal Government (via USA Spending).