Trading and Shipping Operations
Every day, billions of companies and individuals use oil and gas to commute, work, heat homes and offices and perform many other activities. We buy and sell this oil and gas around the world. Our teams work to maximize the value of our products, secure supply to our refineries and transport energy to consumer hubs, all while managing the related financial and logistical risks. We are active in 10 countries where we deal with all aspects of oil and gas trading, including physical trading, derivatives and shipping.
An integrated energy operator with a global network
Marketing oil and gas all over the world at the right price means managing two important variables:
- Financial markets and price risks linked to market volatility, which depend on a number of economic, geopolitical and even climate-related factors.
- Arranging shipping from production areas to consumer hubs worldwide under optimal safety conditions and in a timely, cost-effective way.
To rise to these challenges, our trading & shipping teams around the world work in close collaboration with Total Energies’ Upstream and Downstream business segments, forming a one-stop shop on oil and gas markets. This optimizes transactions and means that we are equipped to offer tailored solutions to a wide range of players, from producers, transporters and refiners to financial institutions and industrial firms.
We trade with an extensive global network of partners every day, affording us a highly diversified range of resources and supply sources to complement our production volumes. This maximizes the chances of selling both our own and our partner producers’ production while securing supply flows to our refineries and our distribution system.
Trading: maximizing the value of our own and our customers’ assets
Every day, our traders deal in oil and gas markets. Their mission is to maximize the value of our production, supply our refineries under the best market conditions and import and export products to match supply to demand in local markets. In addition, they are tasked with managing risks, in particular to limit our exposure to sometimes extreme price fluctuations.
Thanks to our expertise and experience in oil markets, we have developed monitoring and decision-support tools at the cutting-edge of trading. Our teams enjoy a global view of real-time flows and segment information, around the clock. As a result, we can respond to developments with the agility needed to maximize the value of our own assets and those of our customers.
Shipping: transporting oil and gas
We organize the transportation of oil and gas from production areas to major consumer hubs. We select and charter the safest vessels to ensure that cargo is shipped in the most timely, cost-effective way and, naturally, under optimal safety conditions.
Leveraging a leading maritime transportation network
In 2021, we chartered nearly 270 vessels to transport 1 million metric tons of crude oil and petroleum products. We maintain a permanent fleet of nearly 17 time-chartered vessels. We apply one of the most rigorous selection standards in the oil industry for every ship we use, especially those in our fleet. To make sure each vessel meets our standards, our vetting process notably evaluates the condition of the equipment, ship maintenance, crew quality and operating procedures on board.
In 2021, we sold more than 3 million metric tons of LNG. We transported this gas on board ultra-high-performance LNG carriers capable of maintaining an extreme cold chain (-163°C) between the liquefaction site and the regasification plant.