A 'GREEN' SILVER LINING TO AN OIL-PATCH CLOUD

摘要

IN MARCH, FRENCH PRESIDENT Emmanuel Macron went on national television from the Elysee Palace and told his countrymen that in the fight against the coronavirus, "We are at war." Three days later, Patrick Pouyanne, chief executive of French oil giant Total, delivered to his roughly 100,000 employees a video message about the energy rout that was no less blunt. The price of oil had collapsed, "halving our share price," noted the visibly pale CEO, speaking from the Total Tower in Paris into a microphone he was clutching in his right hand, in the style of a talk-show life coach. To stanch the bleeding, Total for 2020 would slash its capital spending more than 20%, nearly triple its planned cuts in operating expenses, and suspend share buybacks.