TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne
CCS needs storage at scale to be profitable – TotalEnergies
Investment in CCS is a ‘permit to operate’ for oil and gas companies but not a profitable business model in the near term, says CEO Patrick Pouyanne
TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne has played down the prospects of the company’s growing portfolio of CCS projects generating returns until they reach a more significant scale. Pouyanne describes CCS as a “permit to operate” for oil and gas companies as they try to cut their scope one and two emissions but not a profitable business model until an operator’s storage capacity hits at least 10–15mn t/yr of CO₂. “We have to do [CCS] because, for me [and] for the oil and gas industry, it is a question of being a permit to operate,” Pouyanne says. “We have to be serious about lowering of scope one and two emissions.” Capacity of 10–15mn t/yr would enable the company to offer third parties such as
Also in this section
2 January 2026
This year may be a defining one for carbon capture, utilisation and storage in the US, despite the institutional uncertainty
23 December 2025
Legislative reform in Germany sets the stage for commercial carbon capture and transport at a national level, while the UK has already seen financial close on major CCS clusters
15 December 2025
Net zero is not the problem for the UK’s power system. The real issue is with an outdated market design in desperate need of modernisation
28 November 2025
The launch of the bloc’s emissions trading system in 2005 was a pioneering step, but as the scheme hits 21 its impact as a driver of decarbonisation is still open to debate
