Total’s refining and petrochemical operations have sizeable exposure to COVID-19 affected countries and may experience a fall in capacity utilization over the near term, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

GlobalData’s report, ‘Coronavirus (COVID-19) Company Impact: Total SA’, notes that around 40% of Total’s refining capacity is concentrated in France, the US, Germany, and South Korea, which have seen large cases of the virus. In addition, over 70% of the company’s petrochemical plant capacity is based in South Korea, the US, and France.

Ravindra Puranik, Oil & Gas Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Total has postponed the restart of the Grandpuits refinery in France, which was shut down earlier for scheduled maintenance, due to lack of demand. The company has also cut production at the Leuna refinery in Germany by around 25% due to low demand.”

In the midstream segment, Total has notable liquefied natual gas (LNG) regasification capacity in COVID-19 affected countries, such as the UK and the US, and hence may face a drop in utilization. However, the company’s LNG liquefaction operations appear to be less vulnerable to the pandemic because the impact of the virus in Indonesia, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia and Australia is relatively low*.”

Puranik adds “Total’s upstream business appears to be relatively safe from the COVID-19 impact. The company has major exploration and production (E&P) projects in the Middle East, Norway and Nigeria. These regions have seen low-to-moderate impact from the coronavirus and the impact is likely to be primarily from supply chain disruption.”

* As of April 2020