World has 'never experienced' soaring refining margins like this, TotalEnergies CEO tells CNBC

In this article TTE TTE-FR Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT watch now VIDEO 10:29 10:29 Watch CNBC's full interview with TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné News Videos Roughly 15% of TotalEnergies' production is offline, as the war with Iran nears the one-month mark, but surging oil prices have more than made up for the lost barrels, chairman and CEO Patrick Pouyanné told CNBC in an exclusive interview. With Brent crude trading solidly above $100 a barrel, much of the attention has focused on oil prices, but Pouyanné said the crisis is having a much larger impact on product prices. "The Brent market is ok, but the products market, which is the one which impacts customers … is much higher than Brent," he told CNBC at S&P Global's CERAWeek energy conference in Houston. He added, the world has "never experienced" refining margins from products including Asian jet fuel at current levels. In addition to petroleum products, about 30% of global fertilizer moves through the Strait of Hormuz, jeopardizing the spring planting season. TotalEnergies is a major player in the global LNG market, including the largest exporter of U.S. LNG. The CEO said the company can still fulfill customer orders in Europe and Asia thanks to its diversified global portfolio. Last week, QatarEnergy said its Ras Laffan plant suffered "extensive damage" following Iranian drone attacks, effectively taking 20% of global LNG supply offline. The shutdown has sent natural gas prices in Europe and Asia surging. Pouyanné expects prices could move substantially higher if the war drags on through the summer, since Asian demand rises over the summer just as Europe looks to refill storage. European natural gas traded around $18 per million British thermal units Tuesday, but Pouyanné said prices could hit $40/MMBtu over the summer if the conflict continues. TotalEnergies is a major investor in U.S. energy. On Monday, it struck a deal with the Trump administration to abandon its offshore wind proje...