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Concerning about the latest oil price decreases, is this oil discount and this oil price decrease influence much your business?
- Of course it has big influence on our business.
- The fact is that oil is commodity; it is tradable throughout the world. And we have to follow the oil price and when this price decreases we pass the decrease to our customer. Same way, when the price goes up, we have pass increase to consumers.
- The big impact this year is that the oil price suddenly went from 100-110 dollars per barrel to less than 50 dollars, so it’s more than 50% drop in a few months. It has a big bicretion obviously for companies like Total, because we are making our money through selling our products, but most through producing oil.
Oil price fluctuation is not the first time in the history, you have experienced several times in the history, bigger ones even.
- Yes. And that makes us looking long term. We had that before in 86’, it has been a big drop in 98-99 and more recently during the financial crisis in 2008-2009, at that time, oil price went back to 40 dollars. So we think that before each time oil price recovered.
- But still the impact on our cash flow, on our investment is important. We have to look at our portfolio, our level of investment. One of our specifics in our industry, when we invest in the project producing oil and gas, it’s at least 10 years project. By the time, you start doing your first research on the ground, looking for oil to the time you produce it. Because of the time it takes to make the survey, the time you take to get the approval from government, the time you have to all environmental research and developing the field in 10 years. Today, in the price of 50 dollars, we are going to continue investing in projects which we will be producing in 10 years. Tell me the oil price in 10 years? You don't know and we don't know. So when we launch the project like that, we have to have long term view. Of course we see the oil demand, and there always has political situation at that time that makes oil price fluctuated. Our long term vision is important. What the short term price is, we are more supporting it than really trying to influence it. What is important is on long term, and the long term for us is oil and gas will still be more needed in the years to come.
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