Pouyanne said TotalEnergies was benefiting from the sharp discounts offered by Middle Eastern crude producers, with oil being sold at $50-$60 a barrel, significantly below Brent crude prices, which were trading above $90 a barrel on Monday. The discounts were helping offset the sharply higher cost of transporting cargoes through the Strait of Hormuz, he said.
Also read: Fewer than 20 ships cross Strait of Hormuz over weekend as US-Iran blockades choke key oil route
The additional freight costs for a supertanker are almost about $10 a barrel, he said.
“Crude oil is sold to you at $50, $60 per barrel, not the Brent price, because the producers are desperate to push their oil into the market,” Pouyanne said.
The French petrochem giant is one of the largest traders of oil from Iraq and Qatar, two nations that have continued to move barrels through Hormuz in recent weeks, TotalEnergies boss added.
A growing number of producers are moving cargoes through the critical waterway, which accounted for about a fifth of global oil flows before the Iran war.
These shipments have helped keep global oil prices from rising sharply beyond $100 a barrel, while also creating lucrative trading opportunities for shipowners and intermediaries.
While some cargoes are transported directly to refineries worldwide, others are first loaded onto vessels in the Gulf of Oman before being shipped to their final destinations.
Pouyanne said the crude and fuel markets are increasingly diverging. Crude markets remain bearish, partly due to continued flows through the Strait of Hormuz, while fuel markets remain tight. Prices of products such as gasoline and diesel have risen following Ukrainian attacks on Russian refineries, while the predominance of crude shipments through Hormuz has further constrained fuel supplies.
Also read: Iran threatens 45 tankers with fines, confiscation in Hormuz escalation
However, he said the economics were far less favourable for refined petroleum products. Smaller product tankers meant that transportation costs could add as much as $50 a barrel, making shipments commercially unviable.
As a result, refined products such as gasoline and diesel are largely not being transported through the Strait of Hormuz, creating supply shortages and contributing to the divergence between crude and refined fuel markets, Pouyanne said.
Despite the profitability of moving crude through the strait, TotalEnergies continues to pursue alternative export routes from the Middle East.
The company plans to become a partner in a proposed pipeline linking Baghdad to Syria and also intends to invest in expanding pipeline infrastructure in the UAE, Pouyanne said.
He said TotalEnergies would invest in doubling the capacity of the Fujairah pipeline, which connects Abu Dhabi's oil fields to the UAE's eastern coast, allowing crude exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.
The existing Abu Dhabi Crude Oil Pipeline, also known as the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline, has a capacity of up to 1.8 million barrels per day and has become increasingly important as the UAE seeks to maximise oil exports from the Gulf of Oman coast. The UAE aims to double this export capacity by next year.
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Iran threatens tankers with fines, confiscationThe Iranian authorities blacklisted 45 tankers that had broken its rules for crossing the Strait of Hormuz, and would take action against any vessels transferring loads with them, escalating its threats over the key waterway six months into the war.
The named vessels could be fined, detained and have their cargoes confiscated, according to an X post from the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, a new body set up by Iran to manage the strait.
The restricted list of vessels includes very large crude carriers, liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tankers, and clean product vessels, among others.