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Unaccountables 00042 — TotalEnergies: blood and oil 

Unaccountables 00042 — TotalEnergies: blood and oil 
Afua Duah for Open Secrets
By Afua Duah for Open Secrets
17 Nov 2024
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French energy giant TotalEnergies is an oil and gas supermajor operating in 130 countries, and with extensive interests in offshore oil and gas exploration off South Africa’s coastline. Yet in many of the places it operates, it stands accused of enabling human rights abuses, corruption and greenwashing. With its investments in South Africa hanging in the balance, this history should be remembered. 

In October 2024, Open Secrets published the Corporations and Economic Report Volume 4: The Oil and Gas Majors, which highlighted the wilful disregard of environmental impact and human rights exhibited by the oil and gas sector in pursuit of massive profits. This instalment of the Unaccountables highlights a notorious company covered in the report: TotalEnergies.

In late July 2024, TotalEnergies announced that it was exiting several gas discoveries in South Africa, apparently because it could not reach an agreement with Eskom and PetroSA about pricing. Oil and gas fundamentalists such as NJ Ayuk described this exit as “a blow to the country’s energy industry”, while Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources Gwede Mantashe insisted at the recent Africa Oil and Gas week that Total was still committed to offshore projects in South Africa.  

But would Total’s exit be a loss to South Africa, or would the country have dodged a bullet, as suggested by JustShare Director Tracey Davies? 

Total’s track record is littered with serious allegations of wrongdoing, including human rights violations, corruption and greenwashing. These allegations are serious and numerous, and Total is facing a number of lawsuits after decades of impunity. Its conduct around the world should be a warning about the risks of its activities in South Africa. 

Business is good for the oil and gas giant


TotalEnergies is one of the largest players in South Africa’s oil and gas sector. It is the fourth-largest publicly listed oil and gas firm globally, operating in over 130 countries across the petroleum sector, including upstream and downstream activities. Founded in 1924 in Paris, Total started its life as Compagnie Française des Pétroles (French Petroleum Company) under the French government’s direction. In 1992, the French government made the decision to significantly reduce its ownership in Total, but it remains one of the largest fossil fuel firms in the world. 

As with most oil majors, business has been good for Total over the last few years. A Global Witness study revealed that Total distributed ordinary and special dividends of €13-billion and bought back shares of €12-billion between April 2022 and the third quarter of 2023. This followed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, resulting in a €25-billion ($26.4-billion) windfall for shareholders. Global Witness noted: “Instead of using that wartime windfall to accelerate the energy transition, it has chosen greed, enriching its shareholders yet again. As Total’s shareholders celebrate, everyone else suffers.”

TotalEnergies faces resistance in South Africa


Total began operations in South Africa in December 1954, six years after the apartheid regime was established, under the name Total Oil Products (Pty) Ltd. It was then primarily involved in downstream activities. In 1967, Total South Africa formed part of an exploration consortium consisting of BP, Mobil and Shell, which was granted a concession to begin offshore oil exploration. This was also the first year in which Total reported making a profit in the country.

While Total has recently exited its interests in the Brulpadda and Luiperd fields, as well as block 5/6/7 off the Cape Town coast, it maintains significant interests in other offshore oil exploration blocks off South Africa’s coastline. These include 48.6% of the OBD Block and 50% of the DWOB Block, as well as 100% of the South Outeniqua Block. The OBD and DWOB blocks cover more than 50,000km² in the Orange Basin off the West Coast of South Africa directly below Namibian blocks, where a great deal of activity is currently taking place.

Total’s legal battles have likely played some role in delaying some of its projects in South Africa, though it remains active in pursuing numerous others. Proceedings brought by the civil society organisations Green Connection and Natural Justice in the Western Cape High Court challenged the granting of environmental authorisation to Total to drill in Block 5/6/7. 

The Green Connection and Natural Justice launched the proceedings on the grounds that Total failed to fully assess the environmental impact of drilling and that it did not comply with requirements set out by the National Environmental Management: Integrated Coastal Management Act. 

These proceedings significantly slowed down Total’s ability to develop this project further and continue with its proposed drilling. Additionally, the Green Connection joined French NGOs Bloom, Santé Planétaire and Nuestro Futuro in Paris in a court case to hold Total to account for its contribution to climate change

While the South African litigation has rightly focused on whether Total has considered the impact of its operations in South Africa, it is instructive to look at Total’s track record in its operations elsewhere. 

EACOP: Coercion in Uganda


Total, through its two East African subsidiaries, TotalEnergies EP Uganda and TotalEnergies East Africa Midstream, is heavily involved in the controversial East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) project in Uganda and Tanzania. TotalEnergies EP Uganda operates both the EACOP and Tilenga oilfields. Community members have allegedly felt pushed into accepting settlement packages for their property. An investigation by the Federation of Friends of the Earth France (Les Amis de la Terre) revealed that communities have been coerced into accepting compensation offers for their land that significantly undervalue its true worth.

Disturbingly, some community members have reported being compelled to sign contracts immediately, without any opportunity for deliberation. Total denied the allegations that its subsidiaries exerted pressure on community members to sign compensation agreements.  

In response to questions, Total insisted to Open Secrets that “TotalEnergies EP Uganda and EACOP are committed to respecting the rights of both communities members and Human Rights Defenders (HRDs) in relation to the projects” and that they “strongly oppose any threats or attacks against communities members and HRDs”. 

Total in Mozambique


Total has been present in Mozambique since 1991, but it significantly ramped up operations in 2019 when it started the Mozambique LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) project, gaining significant drilling rights in the process. The project focused on development of the Golfinho and Atum natural gas fields located in Offshore Area 1 of the Rovuma Basin.

Additionally, the project constructed two liquefaction units used to convert natural gas to LNG, with a total capacity of 13.1 million tonnes per annum. Estimates are that Total’s operations will lead Mozambique’s greenhouse gas emissions to rise by up to 14% due to the methane emissions of the LNG train.

Total’s operations make it one of the most important players in the gas industry in Mozambique, and have been widely criticised. The company has continued its operations despite the economic and social catastrophe experienced by local communities. It is also currently facing litigation by families affected by insurgent attacks in Cabo Delgado.

The project was paused, and force majeure was declared in 2021 after an insurgent attack in Palma District of Cabo Delgado in northern Mozambique. Total knew that there was major violence in Cabo between insurgents and the military, but it proceeded with the $20-billion gas project. 

Total was building the onshore Afungi LNG Park for gas production, including treatment plants, ports, offices and other facilities for contractors. In 2021, a massive insurgent attack by Islamist forces took place in Palma and caused Total to abandon the area. While the violence was taking place, it was clear that the Mozambican army was solely protecting Total’s assets, with 800 soldiers defending the Afungi Park but providing little protection to civilians. Independent figures suggest the death toll was around 1,190 people, including children.

Survivors and families of victims of the 2021 insurgent attack (British and South African subcontractors) have filed a negligence and indirect manslaughter complaint against Total, alleging the business failed to secure the safety of subcontractors despite knowing the risks. The case alleges negligence and indirect murder due to the company’s failures, including due to a refusal to provide fuel to a rescue helicopter that belonged to a private security firm. In a press release sent out in October 2023, Total rejected these allegations.

Before the attack, Total had already been accused of displacing local people to make way for its 70km2 plant. More than 550 families were forced to relocate away from the coast to an inland village. Many were fishing families who had spent centuries living next to the shore and who now had no means of reaching the sea. Even if they could, there are serious concerns that Total’s gas extraction will lead to the extinction of various fish species that are endangered in the Quirimbas Archipelago. Farming families who were relocated were also allocated smaller plots of land compared to the land they lost.

In September 2024, a new and horrifying report emerged from Politico. It presented evidence that in the months after the attack on the Afungi Park, Mozambican soldiers systematically tortured and executed Mozambican civilians in containers at the Total plant. The military unit said that it was on a mission “to protect Total”, and it carried out its mission by torturing and killing their detainees; only 26 people of the 180–250 people detained survived. Total told Politico that the company did not have a presence at the plant at the time of the killings and had “handed over the plant” to Mozambican forces, but that they took the allegations “very seriously”.

Trouble at home


Like many oil and gas majors, Total has largely acted with impunity. Yet, Total now faces a series of lawsuits in its home country of France that seek to hold it accountable for its conduct in a variety of ways.

In September 2022, criminal charges were filed against the French oil group before the Nanterre Judicial Court. The lawsuit demands that Total be held accountable for its contribution to climate change. It alleges that through its failure to prevent a disaster, the firm is responsible for manslaughter, unintentional harm to individuals and destruction or harm to others’ property posing a risk to people.

In 2024, another criminal case was filed by eight individuals and three NGOs. This case is notable as it directly seeks to hold Total’s CEO and other senior executives accountable for harm suffered as a result of extreme weather events; the claimants argue that Total’s fossil fuel exploitation has “contributed to the deaths of victims of climate-fuelled extreme weather disasters”. The public prosecutor is yet to decide whether to open a judicial investigation.

In 2023, French writer for Greenpeace, Quentin Miller released an investigation revealing Total’s involvement in Yemen, which has been the site of a regionalised civil war and numerous human rights atrocities since 2014. Total is one of the largest investment companies in Yemen’s fuel sector, with a reported seven companies existing under its management in Yemen. The report alleges that Total was responsible for the incorrect disposal of millions of litres of toxic water, oil spills, utilisation of unconventional operational methods and pollution of Yemen’s primary groundwater source, and neglected to recycle hazardous waste. All of this was in contravention of recognised international standards. 

In a separate lawsuit filed in Paris, Total has also been accused of human rights violations in Yemen. In 2023, attorneys representing two individuals initiated legal action against Total. They claim that they were held and tortured by Emirati military personnel at a Total gas facility that had been requisitioned and used as a detention centre in Yemen. 

In their response to our questions regarding their response to the allegations, Total directed us to its response on the Business and Human Rights Resource Centre’s website, saying that it is a minority shareholder in Yemen LNG, which operates the gas facility in question, and thus has no authority to “act on behalf of Yemen LNG” or “intervene directly at the Yemen LNG-operated Balhaf site”.

Conclusion
Total spends a lot of resources advertising its push into renewable energy. Yet it has continued to ramp up oil and gas exploration across the world, doing so in a manner that exacerbates conflict and environmental destruction at massive human cost. Its operations reveal a pattern of putting profits ahead of people, contributing to displacement, violence and environmental degradation. While it has long profited from these activities without facing any accountability, Total is now facing a series of lawsuits in France that are demanding it to answer for its conduct.

In this context, it should be a major concern that Total has ongoing interests in multiple offshore blocks in South Africa. Total’s conduct is reminiscent of its home country’s imperial and colonial exploits across the world, with its continued expansion motivated by what it can extract from other countries, regardless of the cost. DM

Read Total's full response



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Read more profiles from the Unaccountable series here.

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