TotalEnergies maintains its European refineries at full capacity despite tensions in the Middle East

The European refineries of the oil and gas giant TotalEnergies are “all running at full capacity and are like gold mines” for the group in this year when the supply/demand balance is being undermined by logistical problems caused by the war in the Middle East, its CEO, Patrick Pouyanné, said on Monday. “Some people regularly comment that our European refineries are lagging behind, but the reality is that they are not (...), they are all running at full capacity and they are like gold mines this year,” declared Mr. Pouyanné on the occasion of his investor day, emphasizing the good level of “integration” of the group’s assets in hydrocarbons and electricity.

“We have optimized the yields of all our refineries around the world in order to maximize the production of aviation fuels and diesel, because these are the products we are most short of today on the market,” said Vincent Stoquart, general manager of refining and chemicals for the group. To meet demand as best as possible and remedy the lack of products as best it can, the group has “also decided to postpone certain maintenance operations,” said Mr. Stoquart.

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A stop postponed until next year

He cited the example of the Normandy refinery, near Le Havre, the group's largest production unit in France: while it “was due to enter a technical shutdown in a few days, we decided to postpone this shutdown until next year,” he declared. “The facility will therefore operate for three more months in 2026, thus generating a significant supply volume for the European market,” he concluded.

Faced with the surge in oil prices and the resulting fuel prices, TotalEnergies has capped at 1.99 euros per liter of SP95-10 gasoline and 2.25 euros per liter of diesel, while on average, all stations combined, they recently stood at 2.17 euros and 2.39 euros in France, according to an AFP analysis of public data. These profits contrast with the losses recorded by TotalEnergies in refining in France, which is structurally loss-making for the group with more than 5 billion euros in losses over the past fifteen years.

In France, the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron assured Thursday evening, during an interview, that the authorities were doing “everything” to “avoid” shortages, and that the supply “of diesel, gas, fuel oil” was guaranteed “by the end of the year”. But he did not completely rule out problems at the start of 2027 “if the crisis were to worsen”, particularly in the Middle East, where tensions are extreme in the strategic Straits of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb.