The silent partners: How TotalEnergies keeps Uganda out of its inner circle

Most former French colonies are up in flames, and it is no coincidence. They are at the precipice of becoming failed states.

With Niger, Gabon and Burkina Faso in turmoil, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo [DRC] fragile, the civil unrest in Cote d’Ivoire’s recent past; and Rwanda’s once bloody times, it raises questions as to why France leaves bloody footprints wherever it sets foot.

This prompted a fact-finding attempt into France’s biggest, and the world’s sixth largest energy company by market valuation — TotalEnergies, which also goes by TotalEnergies Company, and TotalEnergies SE.

Because of the vested interest(s) the energy company has in Uganda’s aborn- ing oil industry, it is imperative that due diligence is conducted to see to it that Uganda’s interests are protected from France’s imperial appetite because when left unchecked, they [France] gluttonously eat even the crumbs that fall under the table.

For context France bought Canada’s uranium at €200 [Shs 789,000] per kilogramme as they simultaneously undercut Niger by paying a pitiable €0.80 [Shs 3,155] for each kilogramme of their uranium. Created over a century ago in Brussels, Belgium, TotalEnergies is valued at $158.63 billion [over Shs 593.4 trillion] on the New York Stock Exchange and €146.24 billion [over Shs 578.4 trillion] on the Euronext as of 1 October 2023 with total assets worth $303.8 billion, according to their 2022 financial statements.

The company registered a comprehensive income of $21.044 billion [Shs 78.7 trillion] in 2022 which is more than Uganda’s national budget for the financial year 2023/24 by $7 billion. The French oil giant operates projects in Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and Australia.

In Africa, TotalEnergies has over 65 projects, in 14 countries. In Uganda, the company is a partner with a 56.67 per cent stake with oil resources in three blocks [it acquired from Tullow oil in 2020], and a 62 per cent share in the East African Crude Oil Pipeline [EACOP] that will run from Uganda to Tanzania. That said, the company’s craftiness is hidden in its policies specifically:

EMPLOYMENT POLICY

Despite the company having a workforce of 101,279 employees as of its annual report released on 24 March 2023, only 10.4 per cent of that workforce is African. The biggest share of the staff is understandably European [63.3 percent] because that is where the oil company runs its biggest operations.

Regardless, 34.5 per cent of its European personnel are from France even when the French company only runs one natural gas reservoir in France at Lacq. Expectedly, TotalEnergies’ top management mainly comprises French, Dutch, Australian and Canadian nationals. There’s no African/non-white representation on the oil company’s board.

Latin America gets a bigger share of the jobs at 13.1 per cent even after the oil company relinquished its assets in Venezuela, and it [Latin America] pales in comparison to Africa in the production of liquids, and natural gas. This is especially concerning because TotalEnergies’ operations are broader in Africa, yet less Africans are employed, meaning that a big number of the oil giant’s jobs in Africa are taken by foreigners.

INVESTMENT POLICY

Black Rock Inc. a reputable financial advisory services company, is the biggest shareholder in TotalEnergies with 6.8 per cent share capital, and six per cent voting rights. The company’s report conveniently doesn’t state the share senior management in Africa gets, if any, and the percentage of voting rights they carry.

It, therefore, doesn’t come as a surprise that Africans are excluded from the shareholder structure of the oil giant with France taking the lion’s share of 26.4 per cent, United Kingdom [UK] 12.5 per cent, Rest of Europe 18.8 per cent, and North America 36.5 per cent.

Further, it is TotalEnergies’ policy that “members of the company’s general management and investor relations regularly meet with institutional investors and financial analysts…”

It is appalling that the energy company hasn’t seen the need to meet with institutional investors in Uganda like National Social Security Fund [NSSF] to give the fund an investment opportunity to cash in on dividends in the energy sector; neither has it met with local financial analysts to expose them to investment opportunities in the global energy sector through TotalEnergies.

As is, the oil giant is comfortable dishing out jobs to a handful of Ugandans, and parting with small amounts in license fees to the government: TotalEnergies SE paid $1,615,000 [over Shs 6 billion] in license fees in 2022.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

“To prepare for the future, the company has allocated more than $1 billion [Shs 3.7 trillion] in funding for R&D and digitalisation in 2022,” TotalEnergies’ universal registration document released in March 2023 states.

This amount doesn’t consider the $2.5 billion [Shs 9.3 trillion] TotalEnergies has invested in research the last three years. Sadly, none of the said funding is going to make its way to Africa, or Uganda; neither will the 3,500 jobs that come with it; because none of the company’s 18 R&D centres are located in Africa.

The oil giant has got nine research centres sprawled across France much as it only has one natural gas reservoir there at Lacq. The rest are divided among Qatar [1], India [1], Norway [1], USA [5], and Brazil [1]. The presence of R&D centres on the African continent would groom talent, boost start-ups, and kick-start numerous pilot studies in vital areas like greenhouse gas emissions, alternative energy, and waste management seeing as carbon emissions in Africa are highest because the oil company is heavily operational in South Africa, Algeria, Nigeria, Egypt, Libya and Angola.

TOXIC EMISSIONS

In the climate section of TotalEnergies’ 2022 report, greenhouse/direct gas emissions are second highest in Africa, only coming second to Europe. Methane emissions have been the highest in Africa between 2015 and 2022.

Methane degrades air quality, and negatively impacts human health while being responsible for 30 per cent of the rise in global temperatures.

The oil giant’s universal registration document for 2022 places nitrogen oxides [Nox] emissions at 60 kilotons [kt]; one kiloton is equivalent to 1,000 tonnes. Nox triggers respiratory conditions, heart disease, diabetes, birth outcomes; and it can change soil chemistry affecting biodiversity.

TotalEnergies is responsible for the high number of spills with no volumes recovered in many cases. For instance, in 2018 there were 74 liquid hydrocarbon spills, with no volumes recovered, 2019 57 spills with no volumes recovered; and 2020 saw 50 spills and no volumes recovered.

This is coupled with the vast amounts of hazardous waste — 165 kt [2021], and 176 kt [2022] emitted into the environment, the African continent is a chemical waste-yard. And this is because it is TotalEnergies’ second biggest operation hub, second to Europe.

For good measure, the anticipated EACOP project, when completed, will emit more than 379 million tonnes in CO2 emissions during its lifespan, reports the Climate Accountability Institute.

“This exceeds France’s emissions in 2020…” the US research organisation’s press release warns.

What’s more, the construction of the company’s central processing unit in Buliisa district, Uganda has literally raised a lot of dust that the death of locals’ livestock has been catalyzed. Likewise, the massive land excavations have caused extensive flooding, and loss of locals’ crops for which they don’t get compensated.

When I brought these qualms to the attention of TotalEnergies through their corporate affairs manager in Uganda Anita Kayongo, she left me no response after giving me the assurance that a timely reply was slated fast and soon. Her unresponsiveness plays into the tight-lipped stereotype of the oil and gas industry in general.

In fairness to TotalEnergies, their presence hasn’t entirely spelt doom and gloom because their residence in Uganda is a stamp of approval that Uganda is investment-worthy. They have endured worldwide chastisement for investing in EACOP and have committed to spend between $10 billion and $20 billion in the local market. In doing so, many local companies are already enjoying the benefits.

For instance, construction companies which are building houses for the displaced, companies that are supplying food, and oil waste treatment companies that have placed in their proposals to cash in the oil adventure. It is obvious that without TotalEner- gies, there are no smoothed roads in Buliisa.

In Uganda, however, TotalEnergies has taken on the persona of the untouchable company because of the amplified allegations of forceful land grabbings and evictions brought against it in the areas surrounding TotalEnergies’ Tilenga project.

Not counting scores of compensation claims for land going as far back as six years. Death threats, and close-fatal encounters for those who have dared speak up against the company’s abrasive practices. An ongoing lawsuit filed by 26 Ugandans in France is testament to the French oil giant’s callousness to Ugandans, and Africans in general.

kimaona@yahoo.com