TotalEnergies SE (NYSE:TTE) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

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So we don’t hedge all the volumes. And in fact, in ’22, we’re quite lucky because we managed to be — when production was interrupted, but we had some new edge on other volume, so we managed to get it. But it’s — so we hedge a certain — I think it’s 90% — 80% to 90%, and when we keep the rest open. But honestly, ’22 with this price is still good. And as I described, the anticipation we have on the LNG market, it’s a little slow — low today, not low. I mean, I know, for Jean-Pierre, it’s not low at all. It’s $20 per barrel. The $20 per million BTU is quite good. In fact, it’s — we would have told that 2 years or 3 years ago. I would tell you we’d have signed immediately. We don’t even dream it. So I think it’s a policy that we need to manage these positions.

We have long-term contracts. We have exposures to spot markets, and we want to manage this exposure, not to keep it fully on our balance sheet because then you have mark-to-market stories and all that, so we prefer to — so we are fine with the policy, and we will continue to implement it. ’23 will benefit from the hedging of ’22, and ’24 might also benefit from the hedging of 2023.

Operator: The next question is from Amy Wong of Credit Suisse.

Amy Wong: I had a question about your emissions targets. Recall in September 2022, you guys increased low-carbon CapEx and then you teased us with the potential to introduce a Scope 3 worldwide emission reduction target by 2025 and also a revision of the Scope 1, 2 net emission target. Now Patrick, in your prepared remarks, you did mention a few numbers. And could I push you just to talk a bit more about what those emission targets can look like in 2025? And more importantly, I’d love to hear how you think about returns on that specific CapEx, where it’s going towards reducing emissions.

Patrick Pouyanne: What the targets look like. What is the second question? I did not catch your second question.

Amy Wong: I’d love to think about, when your emphasis on your CapEx is always on the value over volume and very high hurdle rates for your capital investment. So for something like low-carbon CapEx that goes specifically to reducing CO2, I’d love to hear about how you think about the returns there.

Patrick Pouyanne: Okay. The emission targets, first, when we speak about for ’25, to be clear, the previous target was 40 million tonnes, Scope 1 and 2. I just mentioned that the plan of energy savings that we have put in place should deliver 2 million tonnes lower. So that means that the target will be reduced from 40 million tonnes to 38 million tonnes. I mean, I’m anticipating on the Board decision, but I think there is a logic there by ’25. So we’ll improve the target by ’25 by 2 million tonnes. But we are reviewing not only this one. We are reviewing, like always, year-over-year, what is the status on the various intensity in order to monitor that properly. So I don’t want to anticipate the decision will be taken. This is on Scope 1 and 2, I’m quite clear on this criteria.

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