By William Horobin
PARIS--French oil major Total SA (TOT) will keep its industrial
sites open in France, despite efforts to cut investment and
operating costs in 2015 due to the oil price slump, Chief Executive
Patrick Pouyanne said in an interview with French daily Le
Monde.
In the interview published on the website of Le Monde, Mr.
Pouyanne said all Total employees will be retained and though the
sites in France could be restructured, none will be closed. Total
needs to restructure its refining activities in France as two of
its five refineries are loss making.
"Total has the means, even if this means losing more money for a
year or two," he says.
Mr Pouyanne, who took the top job at Total late last year after
the death of Christophe de Margerie in a plane crash in Russia,
repeated that oil company's target of cutting investment by 10% in
2015 from EUR26 billion in 2014. Exploration spending will fall 30%
in 2015 from EUR2.8 billion in 2014 and the company will step up
planned cuts in operating expenses by EUR400 million to EUR1.2
billion.
"Total has already overcome periods of low prices," Mr. Pouyanne
is says. "Total is solid an will be able to easily get through this
low point."
-Write to William Horobin at william.horobin@wsj.com