His sense of negotiation Margerie shown e

Kazakhstan, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, Angola, Venezuela, Canada... The list of the eight States which should ensure 60 of world oil production by 2030, said the challenge of the majors in the years to come. Not one of these countries that is political or environmental problem. Not one, especially, which has the intention to sell off its resources. The majors Total as the other are no longer act. Times have changed since the overthrow of Mossadegh, Iranian Prime Minister liable to nationalized oil installations. If Queens of crude are now spinning soft, it is because their future depends on always closely oil. By 2030, fossil materials will still provide 75 of the world's energy.

Hoisted into the club of the big five by his successive marriages with Petrofina and Elf, Total Board while on the prospects and future of global energy company which will include solar, nuclear and clean coal, but the major question today remains much ensure the renewal of its reserves. "It still worry about more oil than the prospects", commented soberly on a head of the company. Costs were singed and he must now invest twice more for the same number of barrels. Total invested 19 billion dollars in 2008, 20 more than in 2007. But, for its portfolio of the annual billion barrels that are necessary, the Total effort is not only financial, it is also political and technological.

Total, as his four sisters, not advance more conquered ground. The time where companies landed in the country and left after the exhausted grant has passed. In this regard, not only descent it is a prestigious diplomats line but also his temperament "nothing replaces the human warmth and the handshake" are of Christophe de Margerie, CEO of the group, the same man for the establishment of a new type of relations with national companies and producing countries. The French, the only one to have increased its production in 2007, more, says Denis Florin in Bearing Point, "a good card to play, one that is not in the hands of Americans". His sense of negotiation, Margerie shown e.g. in preferring to negotiate with the Venezuela that slamming the door, as did Exxon. To a petroleum nationalism, exacerbated by the increase in prices, the majors, which hold more than 15 of world reserves, cannot go against the sense of history.

The "acceptability" of their projects, expression key to Margerie, has become the fundamental condition for their success. Its integrated strategy allows the group to tap into the wide range of its activities. With Saudi Arabia and the Kuwait, he set up joint petrochemical facilities. Construction of schools in Angola, the fight against HIV in Africa with the Pasteur Institute, transfer of know-how, each State or national company has its own expectations to the level of its development or its technical capabilities. Gazprom would never have needed to seek Total for a traditional gas field. For the Shtokman Deposit beaten for eight months by the storms of the Barents Sea and icebergs so differently.

In other words, if Total is to continue to seduce, it must constantly improve its technology. For several years, it accelerates its program of research and development, a post which until then was not paramount. On the next six years, $ 7.5 billion will be spent. What maintain a vital become lead and allow him to push the boundaries in the three areas which will be drawn from the resources of tomorrow. The LNG will provide 20 of the production of here by 2015. Conventional offshore (500 metres under water) is now exceeded by the deep and even the ultra-profond. Drill to 1,500 metres to the sea below, this is according to an engineer of the group to "walk on the Moon". The other challenge is the operation of heavy oils from the oil sands of the Canada or the Orinoco Belt. At this stage of complexity, it is costs of extraction of $ 3 per barrel from wells to open pit in the Middle East. The price of a barrel needed to balance the more expensive projects revolves around $ 70. It reached even $ 90 Canadian sands. Guzzling water and energy (almost as much, as that which they provide, say some), they threaten seriously the environment. The fall of the current does not put them as officially involved. Long term, Total is confident on the tendency of prices by the needs of emerging countries. Serenity is reinforced by the fact that there is no final decision to take on these investments by late 2009 or 2010.

Remains in stock market prices today, to obtain new resources, it may be more economical to buy financial markets that get them underground. In recent years, the Group multiplied the acquisitions of average size. Its cash, which could even be extended by sales from refineries, would allow him to go much further, beyond the juniors, these researchers head to discover deposits but do not have the means to develop them. Some independent Americans are choice targets, in particular those who hold deposits of "gas tight", these compact gas reserves. But the final stage would be a step in the consolidation of the industry, after the living closer to Exxon and Mobil, Conoco and Phillips, that which Christophe de Margerie thought no doubt when he said the "Echos": "it is true, companies have a lot of money and property will require that they do something." Total will there be a prey or predator "" Perfect, the French would have him with Italian ENI and its remarkable positions in Africa and the North Sea. What constitute a set weighing 4 million barrels per day, more than Exxon, the giant.