The figures are dizzying: 10,600 million dollars of net profit in the first 6 months of 2022. Thanks to this first semester, TotalEnergies is on track to exceed the results of 2021 this year (16,000 million profits).
This is enough to revive the debate about the super-profits of the energy groups, accused by the left opposition of taking advantage of the crisis to accumulate huge profits. If the Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire once again closed the door to this possibility, during a press conference on Friday, the question of the taxation of energy groups, in particular TotalEnergies, is still alive.
Especially since the French group rarely pays corporate tax in France. This was not the case, for example, in its 2019 financial year, nor in its 2020 financial year, nor in its 2021 financial year.
Unprofitable tertiary sector
How is it possible? Because the oil tanker’s activities in France are not profitable enough. Specifically, the margins of the oil company are obtained mainly from the extraction and sale of oil and it is in the producing countries where TotalEnergies pays more taxes. In its report “Fiscal Transparency 2019-2020”, the group shows, for example, 500 million dollars in taxes in Angola, 616 million in Nigeria, 500 million in Norway…
On the other hand, the activities in France are mainly tertiary (group headquarters, R&D center, etc.), which generate little or no profitability.
The other highly visible activity is service stations. The group has about 3,300 in France, usually franchisees. But here again, the activity is not really a blessing for the group because the service stations, which have been very competitive with the very aggressive hypermarkets for several decades, have reduced their margins on fuel.
This is nothing new and the other historical oil companies like BP and Esso have sold their distribution service (with authorization to use their name) for lack of profitability.
For TotalEnergies, it is not with this activity that it can generate comfortable income.
The refining boom
Finally, there are the refining activities. TotalEnergies has 5 refineries in France and here again, the activity was considered unprofitable in recent years. In 2021, refining margins were around 10 dollars per ton of oil, insufficient to turn it into a source of income…
This is the reason why TotalEnergies has not paid corporate tax in France in recent years, although just a look at the detailed accounts in France (not communicated by the group) would make it possible to know which activities are still slightly profitable and which are not. they aren’t even. they are in deficit.
One thing is certain, this should change by 2022 as refining margins have skyrocketed. For the month of June, the gross margin reached 146 dollars per ton of oil!
Contacted by BFM Business, the group also specifies that in 2021 it paid around 1.9 billion euros in taxes, fees and social security contributions in France.
In detail, 1,000 million euros correspond to social and employer contributions, 500 million euros correspond to withholding tax on dividends paid to foreign shareholders and 850 million euros include various taxes such as the social package, local taxes or the solidarity social contribution. of the companies.
Globally, the group announces that it paid $6.2 billion in taxes in 2020 and $16 billion in 2021.
Source: BFM TV
