With diesel prices over 2 euros and exorbitant filling-ups, it's a jackpot for TotalEnergies. The company made 5.8 billion dollars in profits in the first three months of 2026, a 50% increase compared to last year.
Just as it did in the aftermath of the outbreak of war in Ukraine, the French oil company is heading towards a year of record profits. It's one of those big predatory companies that prey on the world's misfortunes to grow richer!
And what does the government say? That it trusts Total to act responsibly and that we mustn't “stigmatize this flagship of the French economy”. Le Pen echoes this mantra, saying that we mustn't engage in “Total bashing” because it's “a national champion” of which “we are very proud”. What a sinister joke!
Total is shaking us down and we're supposed to say thank you?
TotalEnergies is partly responsible for the price surge. It didn't just profit from the spike in global oil prices on the markets; it was one those that drove those prices up.
Total's CEO is being praised because, in addition to these profits, he made a billion-dollar speculative deal. But prices are rising precisely because of this upward speculation.
To say that this frenzy is the fault of the markets and the law of supply and demand is to cloud the issue. It's companies like Total that shape the market and set the prices at which they sell.
With the war in Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Big Oil seized the opportunity to line their pockets. Every second, the gang of the six largest oil companies rakes in 3,000 dollars in profits.
And we're told that we should be grateful because Total is making a gesture by freezing prices at the pump. In reality, it's strangling us, and just because it's doing it slowly doesn't mean we should say thank you!
Their thirst for profit is going to cost us a lot. Indeed, the increase in fuel prices is spreading to every sector of the economy, and all other prices are on the rise. Unless we wrest a wage increase and its indexation to inflation, we’re going to grow poorer at the same rate as Total and its ilk are shamelessly growing richer.
Their greed is at the root of many crimes
Behind the superprofits of the oil trusts, there are also and above all the tears and blood of the peoples of Africa and the Middle East. For them, the price of these trusts' rapacity is incessant wars, unprecedented devastation and hundreds of thousands of deaths.
The Palestinians, Lebanese and Iranians who are currently living through hell aren't victims of a religious war. They’re victims of imperialist wars because they have the misfortune of living in a region rich in oil. And to control it, Western powers have constantly manipulated, divided, and pitted peoples against one another.
The peoples of the Middle East are being tormented so that black gold can continue to enrich American and European trusts such as ExxonMobil, Chevron, TotalEnergies, ENI and BP.
In the past, it was in Biafra, the Congo, and Gabon that deaths multiplied so that Total’s predecessor, ElfAquitaine, could plunder oil reserves at will. In recent years, it has sacrificed the people of Mozambique in order to exploit the gas fields discovered offshore. Therefore, claiming to be proud of Total is utterly cynical.
Confiscation of war profits!
We must confiscate Total's war profits. To prevent the company from duping us by claiming it doesn't make profits in France, we must demand complete transparency regarding its financial operations.
Workers must prepare to demand what no government is willing to do: make all financial records public, including those which are hidden. We will then see that Total has always made superprofits, because selling oil at a price far exceeding its production cost is, in itself, a superprofit.
This will finally convince the vast majority of workers of the need to expropriate TotalEnergies’ major shareholders without compensation or buyouts. Before moving on to the others…
Nathalie Arthaud