Total Stops Lobbying Against Its Own Future
When a French oil giant pulls out of a powerful American energy group because it’s bad for business, that says a lot.
Total has staked out a decarbonization strategy at odds with the API and the U.S. oil industry.
Photographer: Antoine Antoniol/Bloomberg
Honestly, it hasn’t been a great month for Franco-American energy relations. First, a Texas Railroad Commissioner fired off a jeremiad at Engie SA for turning up its nose at U.S. gas. Now Total SE, the French oil champion, is pulling out of the big kahuna of industry lobbyists, the American Petroleum Institute.
The move is a bombshell but one that’s been coming for a while. Total, similar to several other European oil majors, has staked out a decarbonization strategy at odds with the stance of the API and the U.S. oil and gas industry in general. Moreover, the particulars of Total’s strategy make the API’s positions not just philosophically dissonant. They’re plain bad for business.