Good morning. I'd like to invite you to sit down. I therefore consider that the bureau is well-formed. As a secretary for this assembly, we're going to appoint Mr. Patrick de La Chevardière on my right-hand side, who's the financial director of the company. On the basis of the provisional list of presence, 28,000 members are presented or represented or have used a proxy. They represent 1 billion, 6 million of votes. For this assembly, we have 1,118,625 voting rights, taking into account the double voting rights for some people at least. This number of shareholders is higher than the quorum requested to act as a general assembly to this 1/5 of the action with voting rights. The general assembly is therefore declared as being valid.
I would also like to inform you that the legal documents that we have to submit for this general assembly, concerning, for instance, the convocation, have been submitted. I'm not going to mention all those documents. In order to give to this assembly the best possible publicity, this is also transferred through the Internet. I'd like to welcome all the shareholders or people interested, wherever they are, who will follow the online by being connected by total.com. These shareholders cannot directly participate to the votes, but they could express themselves by mail or through the Internet. I would also like to add that taking into account the limited size of this room, we have indeed asked those shareholders to participate to the GA by connections through the Internet. They will be in very good conditions to do so.
In order to facilitate your participation, we offer you the possibility to transmit your voting instructions through the vote access platform. 1/3 of the shareholders use it now. We would like to thank them. We encourage you to be more and more numerous to use that kind of system. I'd like to remind you that the GA is going to deliberate today concerning the items that are on page 4 on the convocation for the GA 2019, a document that you will have probably received. I'm not going to read the various resolutions. We'll do that when we vote on such resolutions. Now, I'm going with Patricia Barbizet and Patrick de La Chevardière. We're going to deal with the various items we'd like to present. Patrick de La Chevardière is going to submit the financial results for 2018 and the beginning of 2019.
The operational performance and the financial performance of the group illustrate the strategy of the group. Patrick will tell you everything all about this. Patricia Barbizet, the senior director, will talk about the governance of the company. She will also give information about the work of the board and its 4 committees. She will also tell you about the board members. You will have to vote concerning their appointments. Patricia Barbizet will also tell you about the remuneration of your CEO. I will take the floor myself in order to tell you about the strategy of the group, the results, the future of the company, its policy as far as the environmental and social responsibility of the company, the return for the shareholders. This before we start the debate with you from the room.
That's the program for this morning, before we start our debate, as you know, we have something we like very much to do in the group. That is the safety moment. That is one of the most important values of our group. We're going to submit a video on safety.
We set out to achieve creating the first autonomous robot for gas and oil sites, that's exactly what we have done. ARGOS Challenge aims at creating robots that are not only ATEX certifiable, also proving autonomous functionality. With these types of robots, we will increase already the high level of safety.
One of the reasons why Shetland Gas Plant is a good place to do the ARGOS Robot trial is that the equipment and the modules and the layout that we have here on Shetland Gas Plant is very similar, almost identical to the equipment and the modules that we have on offshore installations. If a robot can navigate its way around Shetland Gas Plant, it will be able to negotiate its way around an offshore platform.
The main tasks of the ARGOS Challenge are routine inspection, where the robot has to autonomously locate and read checkpoints, then also to intervene in an emergency. We can simulate leaks, the robot must autonomously detect and localize these measurements.
One of the things that the robot can do is to record the acoustic signature, the sound that pumps and motors make. By listening to the sound that the pump or the motor makes, if there are variations or strange noises coming from that equipment, we can tell whether there might be, for example, a bearing that's faulty.
We want to achieve autonomous functionality, these robots are designed to increase the high level of safety for our operators.
If by having robots on the sites in remote locations, in hazardous areas, reduces the number of people in those areas, it means that overall, we can operate the facility more safely.
Even though the ARGOS Challenge is coming to an end. This is just only the beginning for robotics at Total, we see a great future. I say to the teams, keep developing, keep coding, keep building your robots. More robots.
Artificial intelligence.
To use the ARGOS Challenge robots on our sites.
Longevity.
That's a way to demonstrate that innovation and new technologies can and must be used in order to ensure safety using those robots. These are still pilot projects that are not yet present on all the platforms, I would like to reassure you, but they can be very efficient. I'm now going to give the floor to Patrick de La Chevardière, who's going to present the results and the performance of the group. In fact, it would be easier if I had the screen in front of me to follow the technical survey.
Dear shareholders, we're going to see what are the results of your company in 2018, and we're going to focus on 2019 as well. In 2018, those results confirmed the strategy that has been developed since 2015, and they also translate the relevance of our industrial choices.
On the left, you have the net adjusted result for 2018. That is $13.6 billion. That is an increase of 28% as compared to last year, or to 2017. This performance is first due to the Exploration and Production sector, with an adjusted result that is increased by 71% for the year. Such results, of course, are the result of the price and gas prices, but also, and more specifically, because of the exceptional increase of our production of hydrocarbons, more than 8% in 2017, or as compared to 2017. Our new integrated Gas, Renewables, and Power sector is progressing and is using our integrated strategy in LNG. The downstream sector is also characterized by very good results in spite of a reduction of refinery margins in Europe. R&M could count on the very good availability of the facilities. M&S once again has shown that it was very resilient.
In 2018, the group confirmed its major position as being the most profitable one, with a profitability of the invested capital that is close to 12%. The group, at the same time, is also, as compared to 2015, is generating more cash. Between 2015 and 2018, we have indeed added more than $15 billion of additional cash flow. Our breakdown even grew before dividend is therefore under the level of $30 per barrel. As I've just underlined, these results are due in part to the very important progression of our production of 8% from 2015 to 2018, and it should be further accelerated in 2019, more than 9%. We have a very high visibility concerning the portfolio of projects, and we've even announced a long-term objective for the production for the period 2017 to 2022 of 5% as a yearly average.
Such growth should not be done to the detriment of our discipline in terms of costs. On the right-hand side, you can see the price per barrel for Total as compared to the main competitors. In 2018, we had a cost of $5.7, and we've come back already now at $5.5. We have already progressed as compared to the main competitors. Apart from costs, we also have to think about the investments and the discipline concerning costs is also accompanied by a discipline in the fields of investments. We go on preparing our future, investing in profitable projects in a cost environment that is still favorable. Net investments are established at $15.6 billion in 2018 and should remain between $15 billion and $16 billion in 2019.
More or less 50% of these investments are used for exploration production, 30% for the new sector that is called integrated gas, renewables, and power, and the rest, 20%, for downstream. At the same time, the robustness of our balance with a very low debt level as compared to the other majors allows us to seize opportunities that generate value. That's the reason why we have now Maersk Oil, and that is why we should announce very soon the buyout of the African assets of Anadarko. Patrick Pouyanné will come back to this later. Downstream is one of the strengths of the group. It is one of the real pillars of our integrated models with an extremely high profitability, above 25%, much more than most of our competitors. The resilience of the performance in the generation of cash flow is to be noted with $6.5 billion in 2018.
The cash flow has not been much impacted by refinery margin that still is quite significant because it was compared to 2017, there was a difference of 20%. The three main activities, that is downstream, R&C and M&S, contribute up to a third of this performance. Our assets portfolio is diversified and concerns six big industrial platforms that are integrated at world level. We also have a strong position of the M&S in Europe, and therefore, we consider that downstream can still positively contribute it and strongly contribute to the results of the group. This is one slide that we would like to present and totally demonstrate that our objectives are in line with the achievements.
To end with, you can see that all the objectives that were determined have been met or close to, the downstream cash flow is only EUR 6.5 billion as compared to the objective of seven. As I said, the refinery margins have decreased a lot in 2018 as compared to 2017. This allows us to continue the development of our return policy for the shareholders, a policy that was announced in February 2018. That is the increase of the dividends of 3.5% in 2018 and of 10% for the period 2018-2020. At the same time, shares buyouts for EUR 1.5 billion in 2018. This is also respecting the objective of EUR 5 billion for the period 2018-2020 in an environment of $60 per barrel. If we compare ourselves to our big competitors, objectively, we have the best performance of the majors in 2018.
We have the highest growth of production. The profitability of the assets invested in the downstream sector is very high, and we can even say that it is close to double of what our competitors have. We have an average profitability of invested capitals that is above the level reached by our competitors, and we also have the lowest debt level. We are number 2, in fact, concerning the debt ratio. Just an overview of the first quarter 2019 with a lower barrel price of 6% and also a gas price that is reduced by 11% in Europe and 30% in Asia. In spite of this slowdown in terms of prices for hydrocarbons, our net adjusted result has been impacted only up to 4% and is therefore reaching EUR 2.8 billion, a result that puts us as number 2 among the majors for this quarter.
At the same time, our production has continued with a very sustained rate with a growth of more than 9%. The available cash flow has increased by 18%. The profitability of the equity has improved and is reaching 11.7% per year. I would like to thank you for your attention. Now I'll let you discover through some pictures one of the big projects that was started in 2018 in Nigeria.
If the weather is not favorable, we cannot take the risk.
If the weather is not favorable, we cannot take the risk.
Egina Project has contributed so much to the development of the local content manpower. I believe that subsequent projects will look at Egina Project as setting the standards to follow.
I'm very excited going offshore with the FPSO. I will take away a lot from here in terms of experience and in terms of opportunities. I am very fortunate to be part of it.
Everything that has a beginning must have an end. It's been, for me, an adventure with a lot of memories. It is very, very special. It's a masterpiece. Yeah. Patricia.
After this film on this fascinating project, I am going to yield the floor to Patricia Barbizet, the senior director of your board, to talk about governance and then to talk about compensations.
Hello, everyone. I am speaking to you today as senior director of the Total group. I have been a senior director for four years now. I am going to start to talk about the governance of your group, the composition of the board, its activities, its main work during 2018, as well as a description of my mandates as senior director. With 10 meetings in 2018 and a rate of presence of the board members of 95%, our board is particularly committed and active. Your board members are all present today, for that matter, mobilized as always during the key times for our company.
We have also organized an executive session, which is a meeting that gathers together the independent board members under the lead of your senior director. We have four specialized committees: Audit, Governance and Ethics, Compensation, Strategy, and CSR, which carry out their work under the responsibility and to the benefit of the board members. They met for 15 times in 2018 with a very high rate of presence. Your board pays specific attention to a balance of powers within its group. At the end of 2015, they modified the disposition of its internal role to plan for a senior director in case of a CEO also being a Chairman of the board. The role of the senior director is to guarantee the proper functioning of governance within the board, and they are also chairing the Governance and Ethics Committee.
They also chair the executive session, the Chairman not taking part in this meeting. It makes it possible for the independent board members to check on the functioning of the board. In the same mindset, they check the assessment process in which the functioning of the board is seen. The relationship with the shareholders are also part of my task. With Patrick Pouyanné, we have had the opportunity in 2018 to meet shareholders several times, as well as to manage the risk that the company has to face. The senior director remains the privileged interlocutor for the board members to prevent conflict of interest and can also invite the board to a full meeting with a third of the members of the board to evaluate the functioning of the board. In conclusion, they remain a key partner for the Chairman and CEO for the business of the group.
With Patrick and myself, we meet on average once a month for about an hour and a half to talk about what is going on within the group and the board. Given the choice of the board to trust the Chairmanship and the CEO to the same person, Patrick Pouyanné, and given the key role of the senior director, the board ensures the succession of the senior director. To talk about the activity of your board, I would like to talk about five topics amongst the most significant that we debated during 2018. In February, we approved the purchase of shares for Direct Énergie in order to fulfill the ambition of the group in gas and electricity in France and in Belgium. At the end of April, the council has looked into the mastery of the risk in terms of cybersecurity, which is permanently evolving to face the various threats.
In September, we reviewed the main strategic orientation of the group. In December, the board approved the purchase of shares in the LNG project, Arctic LNG 2, north of Russia, close to another site of the group, Yamal LNG, that you will discover in a video later in this shareholder meeting. We visited the Yamal site in October 2018. I believe you can all recognize us around your chairman. Every year, we meet on one of the group sites. We also organize visits in affiliates. In 2018, we visited the Egina platform that you saw in the video. We also went to Abu Dhabi. This allows the board member to really see the reality of the group, to meet the teams, and to better understand the activities and projects on which they have to speak. We have 12 board members within the board.
Following this meeting, the mandates of Mrs. Van der Hoeven , Mr. Lemierre, and Mr. Lamarche are coming to an end. Following the proposal of the Committee of Governance and Ethics, the board would like to suggest renewing your trust in Mrs. Van der Hoeven and Mr. Lemierre. Mr. Lamarche did not request renewing his mandate. The board would like to thank him for his commitment, his active participation, and his positive contribution since 2012 to the work of the board and its committees. Thank you, Gérard. The board also suggests nominating Mrs. Lise Croteau as a board member. She will bring to the board her knowledge on the field of electricity and renewables, as well as her expertise in the financial matters. You will see a video in a few minutes where they introduce themselves.
You will also have to decide upon the nomination of a board member representing shareholder employees, the mandate of Mrs. Renata Perycz coming to an end at the end of this meeting. Amongst the three members, the board has decided upon the application of Mrs. Valérie Della Puppa Tibi, who is the candidate of the employee shareholding fund. That is the main employee shareholding fund. There will also be a second board member representing the employees designated by the EWC. The two other members were Mrs. Renata Perycz and Mr. Oliver Wernecke. We would like to thank Mrs. Renata Perycz for her contribution. Mr. Oliver Wernecke, who is nominated candidate by the shareholders, is the third candidate.
Following this meeting, your board will be composed of five men and seven women with five different nationalities, with a broad experience in economics, finance, and law, and in various sectors such as commodities, transportation, mobility, and electricity. It will also be independent for 90%, which is quite remarkable. Before we talk about the second part of my presentation on the compensation of your CEO, I'd like to show you a video about our board members that you will need to renew as board members. Hello, my name is Maria van der Hoeven, and I am Dutch. I have been a part of Total S.A.'s board since 2016. As a member, my role is to look at the policy led by the group from a critical and constructive perspective.
Through my participation in the audit committee, I track with attention all of the financial and extra financial performance of the group, including the environmental and climate change indicators. During the past three years, I've really appreciated the visit of the sites, the last one being north of Russia and Yamal. Given my expertise in the energy market, including low carbon, my international exposure, I hope that I can contribute usefully to the development of Total during a second mandate. Thank you very much. Hello, Jean Lemierre. I have been a board member of Total for the past three years. I am part of two committee, the strategic committee and the governance and ethics. I understand my position as a board member as helping to define the strategy of the group and checking that the strategy is implemented. This is something that we do as a group within the board.
One of the things that strikes me as a board member is to see what the Total group is doing in terms of research to see how we ensure both the quality and the future of the activities of the group. If you renew my mandate, I will continue to put my financial skills, international economics, and corporate governance at the service of the group. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, hello. My name is Lise Croteau. I come from Canada. I have more than 32 years of experience in electricity in North America. I was the Chief Financial Officer of Hydro-Québec, and I was the interim CEO of an electricity company. I was part of the development and the implementation of the strategy to face the issues of energy transition, which is at the heart of everybody's concerns. This transition is going to happen with major players like Total.
I believe I can contribute to the success of Total through my financial expertise and my experience in the production of Renewables and the storage, transport, and trading of electricity. It is a big honor for me to be applying for this position within the Total group. Thank you for your confidence and trust. Hello, my name is Valérie Della Puppa Tibi. I've been a part of the group for 30 years in logistics, purchasing, and maintenance of service stations. I am also an employee representative. I am supported by the largest employee shareholding fund. I am proud and honored to be an employee and a shareholder. It allows me to see everything that our group has done, but also the future challenges. This is why, if I am elected, I will be fully invested in the work of the board and its committee. Thank you. My name is Renata Perycz.
I am an HR manager in an affiliate of Total in Poland. I did all of my careers within Total since 1993 in different positions with logistics of purchasing. For the past three years, I've been a part of the work done by the board, and I'm a member of the compensation committee. To represent all of my shareholder colleagues is a great honor and a huge responsibility. I hope I can use this exceptional experience for the well-being of all of the employees of the Group Total. I'd like to wish a good luck to both of my colleagues who are candidates. Thank you.
I'm working for Hutchinson Automotive in Germany since 2014. Hutchinson Automotive is an affiliate of the Total Group, I'm in charge of the global key account for the Volkswagen Group. Becoming the director of the employee shareholders, it's not just to inform the board, it's just to collect the information and share them with the board to discuss the mainstream interest of the shareholders. Due to my experience in a global acting company and my open-minded settings, I will bring added value into the organization for the employee shareholders. You can count on my commitment. Thank you very much.
Thank you all for these presentations. I would like to talk about the elements of the compensation of your chairman and CEO. Two motions are submitted to you. In motion number 10, you are asked to approve the elements of the compensation paid for 2018 to the CEO. In motion number 11, you can approve the compensation policy of the chairman and CEO for 2019. For 2018, in compliance with the compensation policy voted last year, the fixed compensation was EUR 1.4 million. The variable, which is submitted to the approval of motion number 10, reached EUR 1,725,900, which were 123.28% of the annual fixed compensation. This is a decrease compared to 2017, linked to various calculations. There was a criteria for 50% of the amount that was the three-year average of the net adjusted income compared to the peers of Total.
The board would like to underscore that this decrease does not translate the appreciation that it has on the exceptional work done in 2018 by Patrick Pouyanné, that it contradicts the increase of the revenue of the group. 72,000 performance-based shares were allocated to him under the conditions of performance pertaining to 2018, 2019, and 2020. These have to do with the rate of profitability of Total share and the annual variation of the cash flow per share in comparison with the main competitors. Their attribution will only come after three years, given the conditions of the performance. These performance-based shares exist within the framework of a wider scheme distant to more than 10,000 employees of the group. As to the motion of 11, it is made up of the same three components as 2018. This remains identical until 2020.
The compensation is made of a fixed income that hasn't changed since 2016 of EUR 1.4 million, a variable part which could reach a maximum of 180% of the fixed compensation and performance-based shares, 72,000 having been attributed in March of 2019 within a global scheme that is open to more than 10,000 employees. Let us look at the variable compensation for 2018 of your chairman and CEO. As you can see, the maximum amount does not change as well as the weight of quantifiable objectives, which are respectively 140% and 40% maximum of the amount of the fixed compensation. The board has decided to add or modify certain criteria. Given the challenges linked to climate change, a quantitative criteria on the decrease of greenhouse gases on oil and gas facilities operated by the group was introduced. The organic cash flow before dividend was also a new criteria.
It is essential in steering of the company, and it encompasses the discipline of the group in terms of cost reduction, its choice of investments, and its management of its portfolio of assets. These profitability criteria for the return on equity and the debt ratio have also been retained. In line with the objectives of the group to be the most profitable of majors, a profitability of the capital employed, the ROACE, compared to the peers, has been retained. As a conclusion, and before your Chairman and CEO takes the floor again, I would like to suggest watching a video about the Yamal project that we visited last October. Ladies and gentlemen, and dear shareholders, good morning. I am once again delighted to see you during our annual meeting of shareholders, which is a great moment to have a discussion. You are very numerous.
It's important for your board, it's important for myself as your Chairman, and for our entire company. It allows me to present to you what we've accomplished during the previous year, as well as the forecast for the next year. Our ambition was to become the major of responsible energy. It was our reason for being, was to provide to the largest number of people, energy that was more affordable, cleaner, and more respectful of the future of the planet. I will talk about our revenue that will illustrate the implementation of our strategy, as well as about the agreement that we've signed with Occidental to acquire the assets of Anadarko in Africa, which is the largest acquisition since the merger with TotalFinaElf.
I will talk about the challenges, which are the fight against climate change and the CSR policy of the company. These challenges are within the heart of our ambition, and they are integrated within our strategy. These matter for our durability as well as for our social commitment. If our commitment is not new, it is very important today, and they are at the heart of discussions as well as in the heart of what is going on nationally and internationally. I will come back to our policy of sharing the gains of our company and especially the shareholder returns that we have announced. 2018 was an excellent year in terms of revenue and of major progress in petroleum, oil and gas. An increase of 28% of revenue, an exceptional growth of more than 8% in our hydrocarbon production, and return on capital employed that is very significant.
You can be proud of the performances of 2018, being proud of a shareholder of Total. Performance is one of the value of our group. I will not come back to what Patrick de La Chevardière has said, but I'd like to highlight the fact that we've had great revenue because of the profitable growth of our production and our capacity to draw full advantage of a higher price of oil given the decrease of our break-even. We have maintained our cost discipline for our OPEX as well as our investment. As you know, the environment of the price of oil is very volatile. We can't control it, so we need to see what we can control, which are our costs, our investment choices, and our operations. Beyond our revenue, I would like to talk about some of the projects of 2018.
In the petroleum upstream, we have bought, at the bottom of the cycle, Maersk Oil as well as shares in Saudi. We've started Kaombo North and Egina that you saw in the first video. In the downstream, we have continued our growth in petrochemicals with the launch of projects in the U.S., in Saudi, and in Korea. In Marketing and Services, we've continued to expand in high growth markets with the entrance of the group in Mexico, Brazil, Angola, Saudi, and India. In our second field of activity, which is gas, 2018 saw the acquisition of the LNG business of Engie and the first delivery of this beautiful project that is Yamal LNG. I saw with the applause that we could definitely recognize the huge work to build this modern-day cathedral. This video gives me chills every time.
This is the new Qatar. It will be further strengthened by Arctic 2 that we're doing with Novatek in the LNG projects. We also started Ichthys in Australia. In our third field, which is low carbon electricity. In 2018, we've made a major step with the acquisition of Direct Énergie. We are investing in this sector EUR 1.2 billion to EUR 2 billion per year to serve our ambition to become the major of responsible energy. 2018 was an important step for the group. Total is often described as an oil company, but increasingly we are a company that produces and sells gas energy that is oil-based, but also gas-based and low carbon electricity-based. In 2019, we continue to rigorously implement the strategy.
We're going to have an increase of more than 9% of our production, which is exceptional within the framework of stable investment between EUR 15 billion and EUR 16 billion, and while continuing to reduce our production cost to reach a level of EUR 5.5 per barrel. I would like to note that during the first quarter of 2019, with lower petroleum prices, we've had the best revenues of the majors before Chevron, Exxon, and BP. That demonstrates the success of our strategy. To prepare the future, we implement a strategy that is clear and that we share, especially in our oil and gas activities. It relies on our strengths because we're convinced that it's playing to our strengths that will be best placed to create added value for our shareholders.
Our strengths are technologies and businesses where we excel, deep offshore, LNG, petrochemicals, and retail, and three geographies where we're leaders, Africa, the Middle East, and the North Sea. The recent announcement of the acquisition of Anadarko assets in Africa from Occidental during a major fight showed our capacity to be agile and responsive. We were able to do this because our strategy is clear and shared. The assets of Anadarko, which are more than three billion barrels of resources that we're going to acquire for EUR 8.8 billion, less than EUR 3 per barrel, are at the heart of this growth strategy, playing to our strength. Africa and LNG in Mozambique, Africa and deep offshore in Ghana and South Africa, and Algeria, which strengthens our position in the Middle East and North Africa.
They are going to increase our position as leaders in Africa and make us a number 2 of the LNG globally. They are going to contribute to the growth of our production and our cash flow. It is also going to decrease the break-even of our portfolio. By being masters of our own destiny, because we will be operating 2 new projects in Mozambique and Algeria. This operation, with a strong gas component, will also contribute to our ambition to become the major for responsible energy. I would like to now switch to the second part of my presentation, and to come back to the 2 long-term challenges for a group which are climate and corporate social responsibility. To become the major of responsible energy leads me to stop and consider the words contained in this ambition, because each one of these words is important. First, to become.
To become means the movement, the ambition, the path we have to go through, even if we have a very clear commitment already. Major, yes, we are indeed a leader in our sector, and we want to remain so in the long term. Then energy. Energy is the key word here. We are not saying oil or oil and gas, but energy, because our ambition is indeed to invest and to become a leader in the production and in the trade of all energies, oil, gas, and electricity, low carbon electricity. We finally want to be responsible because we believe that the company is part of the solution, and therefore, we want to contribute in a very concrete and pragmatic and positive way to the economic and social development of society in the context of climate change. Therefore, I come back to the first challenge, the climate.
It is a major challenge in our strategy. We have the yellow vest. We have the citizens movements. We have the NGOs defending the environment. We have international experts. We have the evolution of the world and the climate is a challenge for the 21st century. It is also very important for us because we consider this as being opportunities. It makes the market of energy evolve, and we adapt ourselves, and we progressively adapt our portfolio. We continue the strategy taking into account the evolution of the energy market, taking into account the situation in 2020. That is, taking into account an increase of the temperature that should be under 2 degrees. For the first time in 2019, we have published for the first time our own scenarios for the evolution of the energy markets, oil, gas, and electricity.
We have shown what are the challenges for us if we want to be under this 2 degree increase as stated in the Paris Agreement. Our strategy is based on 3 main actions integrating the climate challenges. First of all, in the oil sector, because we will still need oil, probably less than today, we will focus on oil assets with low emissions in order to try and obtain a reduction of the demand. We will try to also use the increase of costs. We also try to have a sustainable system. Then the second point is gas. Gas is emitting less CO2, and therefore, we develop an offensive strategy, particularly in the LNG sector. The only hydrocarbons that is going to strongly increase in 20 years' time in all scenarios that are suggested.
We are therefore building up a real competitive edge for our group, we want to grow for the whole value chain of the gas, from the production to the sales, as we've done it historically in the field of oil. Finally, the third action concerns low carbon electricity. It is the third energy, we are investing in that form of energy. We produce it coming from gas or renewables in order to take full advantage of the strong growth of the world demand in the field of electricity, that's going to double in 20 years. The 21st century will be the electricity century, therefore we want electricity, low carbon electricity, to represent between 15% and 20% our energy mixes total in 20 years' time, which will be a major evolution for our group.
Finally, the fourth action, the fourth priority, to contribute in a pragmatic and concrete way to a neutral carbon world. We invest in activities with carbon wells in order to compensate the emissions linked to the hydrocarbons, oil and gas, that our customers will go on consuming. We invest in innovation and industrialization of capture and storage capabilities, we also develop within our group a new activity in the field of natural carbon wells. From 2020, we're going to invest EUR 100 million per year in the wetlands, the forests, and the deteriorated land lands. Our group is therefore taking into account the climate challenges. In February 2019, we've announced our
Objective to reduce our absolute GHG emissions for oil and gas operations by 14%, reaching 40 million tons in 2025. We reduced those emissions by 25% since 2010, we can say that it would be 40% in total for the period 2010-2025. The board, by the way, is suggesting, as Patricia Barbizet said, that you use part of the variable share of your CEO salary to do that, it will be the same for the 300 leaders of the group. We are in the low carbon market, we have a strategy that aims at reducing the carbon intensity of the energy products used by our customers by 15% between 2015-2030. If our customers change their consumption habits in line with the evolution of our offer, altogether, we will contribute in a responsible way to the objectives set by the Paris Agreement.
The second challenge is the CSR of our group. It is how we can be sustainable. A company is first and foremost a human adventure of a group that tries to make something that's useful for society. It would be a mistake to limit ourselves as a company leader trying to get profit. Profit is a means. A means required in order to invest and to develop in a sustainable way in our sector. That is the sector of energy, but also to contribute positively to the economic and social development of the society in which we are developing our business. Therefore, today, I'd like to come back to some very concrete actions to illustrate how the group is going to implement this CSR. In order to make the CSR more efficient and more visible, we have organized the TotalEnergies Foundation action.
It is called TotalEnergies Foundation at World Level, and we base this action on four priorities. Safety on roads, educating the youth. It is very important in a continent like Africa, for instance. Climate and forests, education and integration of the youth, and the dialogue between cultures and the heritage. These are four priorities that are in line with our ambition, our history and our values. One of our recent decisions in line with our program, in order to promote our cultural heritage, was the exceptional contribution of the group, EUR 100 million for the rebuilding of the Cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris. We are going to make a donation through the foundation. We are the main patron for many years. We did this exceptional donation because the cathedral is more than a monument. It is really the soul of Paris. It is a symbol of our culture.
It is at the heart of the thousands of years of our country. That is where you find the roots of the group as well. We have also done this because the strength of solidarity is one of the values of Total, and because we wanted to give an answer to the present situation and take into account all the emotions of such a tragedy, not only in France, but in the whole world. I would like to underline that we did it respecting our code of ethics. That is the reason why we have acted through the Foundation for the Heritage, because that organization has no religious objectives. We are talking about cultural heritage and not of religion.
Another symbolic example of our societal action is the one developed towards the youth, because employing the young people is also a major challenge for our country. The group is therefore committed in training and integrating the youth through its policy in favor of learning processes, because we have, each year, trainees that represent 5% of our staff. That is 1,700 young people. We also have solidarity actions. The TotalEnergies Foundation contributes, therefore, to the creation of 100 schools of production in the country so that people can learn to like something when learning at school. It also created a campus for the future in Seine-Saint-Denis in order to attract and train the young people in sectors that will be able to offer them a job. All these actions contribute very clearly to the pride of belonging to this group.
It is also an answer to what our workers are looking for. I would like to tell you all the shareholders that I would like to thank all our teams, all of these people who very strongly contribute on a daily basis to our results because they are committed in the project and because they are able to work all together and to innovate. I would like to end with the values, sharing the values and the returns for the shareholders. To be a major is important. We create value. We have to share that value. In 2018, we have generated $40 billion of added value, more or less. As the board announced, the priority 40%, that is $16 billion, has been reinvested in the group in order to prepare for the future. The 60 remaining percent are going to distribute it into three actions.
First, our workers, our team, thanks to which we have this result, they received the equivalent of $10 billion. That is 25% of the added value created by the group. The second is the countries in which we operate to which we pay taxes or where we have social actions. All this represents for 2018, EUR 7 billion. That is more than 15% of the value created. Finally, you, our shareholders. We have distributed close to EUR 8 billion, either as dividends or as buyout of shares. That is 20% of the value created. Today, I have the pleasure to confirm that the return for our shareholders is dynamic, and it will continue to do so. Total means a dividend that increases with a good return, 5.5% as an average per year for 10 years now.
Our dividend in EUR never decreased for 30 years. Therefore, we can say that to invest in Total is a sure way of investing money. We trust in the cash flow evolution of the group. We want to give you visibility through very clear policies on the return for the shareholders for the years 2018, 2019, and 2020. I can even say that it was quite audacious from the board because it happens where we have a price for the crude oil that is quite volatile. They announced 10% for the increase of the dividends for the period 2018 , 2020 as well as a program for the buyout of actions up to EUR 5 million in order to share with our shareholders the profit of the high profit of oil activities. This policy was announced in February 2018. It was implemented.
The dividend was €2.56 per action, an increase by 3.2% as compared to 2017. Also, the group bought EUR 1.5 billion of actions. That is more than what was initially envisaged. The price was higher than EUR 60. For 2019 and 2020, we will do the same. The project of acquisition of African assets of Anadarko will have no negative impact on the policy applied to the shareholders. Much to the contrary, because this acquisition is going to generate a net cash flow starting from 2020, even if we have EUR 50 for the price of the barrel. We have net cash flow starting in 2025 after launching the Mozambique LNG project that will contribute to the future growth of your dividends.
In 2019, concretely, the dividends and the down payment will represent 3.1% of increase. The buyout policy is going to continue for EUR 1.5 billion and more if the barrel price is changing. That's what I wanted to share with you, ladies and gentlemen. The economic environment is quite difficult. It was difficult in 2015 and 2016. We are stronger, more resilient, and we have a good situation so that we can seize the growth opportunities in line with our ambition. Thanks to the commitment of our teams and the support of all of you shareholders. In 2018, we've bought out Direct Energie and also now the assets of Anadarko. It's also a good example. We are determined as a responsible company and as a player to face the challenges of climate and to respect the CSR challenges.
We are also determined to keep the high level of attractivity for the shares of Total and therefore, to thank you for being faithful and loyal. I'd like to end this intervention by asking you to join me in thanking very warmly the members of the board who are present here and of the ExCo and all the workers of the group to say thank you and goodbye to Patrick de La Chevardière, who's your financial director, has been so for 12 years. It is his last General Assembly. Thank you for his remarkable work, for his constant commitment. Jean-Pierre Sbraire is going to be successor starting from this summer. Thank you very much, Patrick.
[Foreign language]Total est historiquement présent dans 50 pays d'Afrique. Son réseau commercial, le premier du continent, compte plus de 4,500 stations-service et points de vente. Par ses activités d'exploration production, le groupe est présent dans 16 pays et produit aujourd'hui 780,000 barils équivalent pétrole par jour, onshore comme offshore, ce qui représente près de 28% de l'ensemble de sa production. Début mai, Total a signé avec Occidental, candidat au rachat d'Anadarko, un accord engageant pour l'acquisition des actifs africains de ce dernier dans quatre pays dans lesquels le groupe est déjà présent au travers de ses activités de marketing et services. Au Mozambique, Total deviendrait opérateur de l'Area 1, une zone en mer qui abrite 2 billion de barils de ressources de gaz naturel. À terre, le projet de gaz naturel liquéfié, Mozambique LNG, est proche de la décision finale d'investissement.[/Foreign language]
[Foreign language]En Algérie, Total deviendrait opérateur dans le bassin du Berkine, dans lequel il détient déjà une participation. La production de ces champs était de 320,000 barils par jour en 2018. L'accord concerne également le Ghana, où Total deviendrait partenaire sur les champs en offshore profond de Jubilee et de TEN. Enfin, l'Afrique du Sud, où l'accord permettrait au groupe d'acquérir des licences d'exploration proches de Brulpadda, une importante découverte réalisée par Total en offshore profond. L'accord sur les actifs africains d'Anadarko cadre parfaitement avec la stratégie du groupe, puisque Total se développe en s'appuyant sur ses forces : l'Afrique, l'offshore profond et le gaz naturel liquéfié. Cet accord engageant en vue d'une future acquisition pour un montant de $8.8 billion permettrait à Total d'accéder à 3 billion de barils de ressources et d'augmenter sa production de 160,000 barils équivalent pétrole par jour d'ici 2025.[/Foreign language]
[Foreign language]Bien, nous allons reprendre.[/Foreign language] We're going to continue with the GA after these three interventions. I'd like to remind you that the documents within by the law have been made available to the shareholders before the GA, and they have been forwarded at the request of others. The reports submitted to the GA are part of the brochure for the invitation, and you could have those documents at the entrance of the room. I'm now going to give the floor to the auditor. I'm going to give the floor right away to the auditor in order to present the report, Jacques-François Lethu of KPMG, so that he can present the various reports established by the auditors.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and CEO. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, good morning.
I have the pleasure to, on behalf of the auditors KPMG NY, to submit the reports that we have established for you. Those reports for 2018 are among the documents that have been circulated and that you will see on the screen behind me. We have the annual accounts report, the consolidated accounts, and the special report of the auditors concerning the standards principles. First of all, the annual accounts and consolidated accounts, I'd like to remind you that we have to take into account that what is important is to have a reasonable certainty that there is no significant problem with such accounts. Our report concerning the annual accounts of the company are presented on page 380 to page 400 of the reference document. We have indicated in our report the key point of the audit.
This year, just like last year, it refers to the assessment of the participation and the amounts to be paid. We have taken into account the first resolution of your assembly. We certify those accounts for 2018 without any reservation. We, at the same time, have emitted no observation concerning the management report or the report of the board concerning the company management. Concerning the consolidated accounts, our report is presented at page 250 up to page 353. We took here into account the specificities of the activities of your group. The activities, the organization, the accounting rules, and also the internal control systems. The audit committee and the board have been regularly informed about the progress and the results of our work. We have included in the report the key aspects of the audit. We have three main points.
Two are identical to those already presented in the report of 2017. They refer to the depreciation of the non-current assets of explore and production, and also the incidence of the estimation about proven and developing reserves of hydrocarbons. The third one is about the activity of your group in 2018. It is about the evolution of the right value of the assets, liabilities, and possible liabilities acquired in the framework of the acquisition of Maersk Oil and ENGIE LNG. As a conclusion, and in agreement with the second resolution of your assembly, we certify without any reservation the consolidated accounts of the group that we submit for 2018. The fifth resolution is about the regulations and the commitments in that respect.
There is one about the commitment subscribed towards Mr. Patrick Pouyanné, your CEO, concerning the retirement and the retirement payment, as well as the reimbursement of health care, as well as the provisions concerning situations of Mr. Patrick Pouyanné leaving. We have also the Association United Way that has an agreement with Total S.A. It is an operation that is part of the social policy of the Total group. Our report that is presented at page 173 to page 176 gives a description of these two points. This is a summary of our reports concerning the year 2018. Thank you very much for your attention. [Foreign language] Je remercie le Collège des commissaires aux comptes.
I am thanking the audit board for the report and their certification.
Before I open to discussion, I'd like to clarify the fact that four shareholders have submitted written questions within the framework of the law. Mr. Carréra, who asked 10 questions, Mr. Bidagain, four questions, IPAC Association, one question, and Greenpeace, who has sent us 34 questions. I am now going to read
All of the answers that were reviewed this morning by the board, the text of these questions as well as the written answers, will be visible on the internet site total.com under the General Assembly of Shareholders 2019. They will be made available at the end of the week, given that we've received the 34 questions from Greenpeace on Friday, and I want to be certain that all of the observations were taken into account. By the end of the week, these will be available online. The people who have shared with us within this legal framework will receive the answers to their questions by separate mail.
I would like to open the discussion on the items of the agenda of this ordinary meeting of shareholders with Patricia Barbizet, our Senior Director, Patrick de La Chevardière, our Chief Financial Officer, as well as members of the board and members of the executive committee all present here. I would like to remind all of our guests that the shareholders are the ones who have a shareholder badge and they can express themselves. I would like to invite you to limit yourself to one question to ask the largest number of you to express themselves. I would like to also invite everybody to let anyone speak peacefully. You will have a clock on screen to limit your given time. I am now going to open the floor to the debate with you, our shareholders. I believe you have microphones in the room with numbers.
Please get close to the people holding the microphone. If some in Place Wagram, you have letters. I can see the letter A, I will yield the floor to them later on. I will start maybe with number two.
Hello, Mr. Chair. I would like to know how you're going to manage the reaction of the Algerians who have a post-colonial attitude on the fact that Total is going to become the first producer outside of Sonatrach in their country. Technically, since you're going to reduce the consumption of heavy fuels with issues of power plants and boats, what are you going to do with it?
Concerning Algeria, we have a dialogue with Algerian authorities. You have to be cautious about the information that the news agencies have shared.
The minister himself has said that, of course, all of this was happening in a dialogue in view of an agreement. I will very soon meet the Algerian authorities since the CEO of Sonatrach has changed recently as well as the minister. We have an experience when we acquired Maersk assets in Algeria. I'm not overly concerned. It's normal that the authorities of each producing country would want to have a dialogue with their main partners, and Total is a partner of Algeria, and it's within this framework that we're going to have this dialogue very soon with Algerian authorities. As to heavy fuels, there are evolutions in the legislation, especially in terms of maritime transport. We will no longer be able to use heavy fuel with high sulfur contents. There has been an evolution.
The group, of course, has prepared to this evolution our refining system, and here I'm talking under the control of Bernard Pinatel, who is in the room, was producing about 7 million tons of heavy fuel. We are going to reduce this to 2 million tons through various measures. We've carried out a lot of investments, especially in Antwerp, where we've invested more than EUR 1 billion over the past several years. In the U.S., with the coker in Port Arthur. We also have other works that we do with our trading activities, where we have significant storage capacities. We can dilute this high sulfur content, heavy fuel and other products in order to offer our clients a product that is in line with the legal requirements. Heavy fuels are not prohibited. They'll still be used for them. There's still markets for fuel power plants in some countries.
We have adjusted our production as time went by. We've anticipated this legislation, and it will be less than 5% of our refining capacity that will be concerned. Total's refining is well prepared to meet this. We're going to take advantage of this in another part of the group, which is E&P, Exploration and Production. Since the markets are evolving toward less heavy sulfur content hydrocarbons, we're going to move to this. We have 65% of hydrocarbons with low sulfur and the global average is 40%. When we look at the pros and cons of this, we see opportunities for the group to improve its cash flow rather than hurdles. My final point is that this evolution for the marine fuels, opens a large field of opportunity for LNG because this is part of our aggressive LNG gas strategy. We can suggest to replace the fuel by LNG.
This is what CMA CGM has done with Total. They've asked 15 container vessels that will go from Europe to Asia using LNG instead of heavy fuels. This is a significant contribution to the issue of greenhouse gas emissions. In the group, when we have new constraints and new regulations that are good for the planet that we support, we have many ways in which we adjust ourselves and in with which we anticipate in order to develop new businesses. I'm going to now yield the floor to number five.
Hello, Mr. Chair. I have a question that is of a financial nature. Your breakeven being below EUR 30. Last year it was 27, and you said that you were aiming for 25. Can you give us an actual value for 2018? How do you define your breakeven point?
I'm going to yield the floor to Patrick for the precise accounting definition of the breakeven. For me, it's the price of crude that cancels the cash, but Patrick's going to give you a definition. We say that our objective is to maintain it below 30. Last year it was at 27. It's a little bit of a complex calculation. This is why we don't give a precise figure. This year, thus far, we are below 25 for the first quarter. We continue to improve. This being said, it depends upon the share of investments that we do. Breakeven is the level of the price of Brent, such as the one we define, that cancels the cash flow right before the payment of the dividends. You have all of the cash flow from operations.
From this, we remove operating costs, investments, taxes. Then you have the amount that is available for the shareholders to decrease our debt ratio, and it's this level that is below $30 per barrel. Thank you. I'm going to yield the floor to people in the Wagram room. There's no one. Yes, there is a gentleman. In Wagram. Does anybody want to take the floor? I thought you were sitting down. You weren't standing concerning Saint-Brieuc. Jean-Paul Christ, individual shareholder. I have technical questions on Iran. You have not mentioned Iran, so I'd like to know what the economic consequences over the short and medium term for Total. There are announcements that are grounded or not grounded as to the privatization of dams in France. Would Total be applying for those? Hydrogen, you have not mentioned this.
I know that Total is part of a group working with Air Liquide on this. Thank you. Normally, it's one question for shareholders because three is a lot. I have not mentioned Iran because there's no project in Iran. As you know, the Americans reneged on the JCPOA. They've threatened any company working with Iran with serious consequences. This would have been an issue with our U.S. shareholders. The practical consequence is that we would've spent $50 million in this project. That is our loss. That being said, you saw that President Trump said that he was hoping to get to an agreement with Iran in this business between the international community with Iran. There are ups and downs. It's not the first time that we have to leave Iran. It's the second time over the past several years.
We're a little bit obstinate. We know this country. We have an expertise in South Pars. We'll wait and see. It's a lost opportunity in Iran. There were other opportunities that opened to us for which the group was able to mobilize itself. As to the dams in France, it's going to depend upon the decision. I have spoken several times about the fact that within the framework of our strategy toward new energies and low-carbon power generation, hydraulic was indeed an opportunity. The decision harks back to the French state. If the French government wants to open the competition for some hydraulic concessions, such as encouraged by the European Commission, Total will be candidate, probably not alone, with a partner that has the competence in the hydraulic electricity business. We'll do this like what we did for offshore wind.
Total has partnered with the Danish Ørsted, who are the global leader. We'll see what the result for this tender is. For hydrogen, yes, we are members of the Global Council on Hydrogen with 20 other companies that is chaired by Air Liquide. We're also working with Engie on hydrogen. We've signed an agreement when we carried out the operation to purchase their LNG to work with Engie for 10 years. We are looking at various projects. We're trying to see if we could produce green hydrogen, so hydrogen from renewables through electrolysis on the biorefinery in La Mède to make sure that this site is an example in terms of contribution to the fight against climate change. I'm going to yield the floor to number one. Hello, Mr. CEO. Clement Raviet.
I have a question as to the sponsoring of Total and the future partnership with the Olympic Games in 2024. The Mayor of Paris feels that the future sponsor need to meet environmental criteria, thus creating a controversy. Does this call into question your partnership? Thank you for your question. There were very constructive dialogues with the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and Tony Estanguet. I've also noted the Mayor of Paris has doubts on the interest of the contribution of Total to those Olympic Games. She has invited me to meet her. I am going to meet her very soon. I cannot conceive that Total could be sponsoring the Olympic Games against the opinion of the Mayor of Paris. This gives me the opportunity to convince her that Total is an ethical company that is committed to the renewables. Total is not just a petroleum company.
You know that as shareholders. Total is a progressive player recognized amongst the oil major as the ones who carry out the greatest number of investment. I believe that in the energy industry, it's not going to happen from one day to the next. We are good because we generate cash flow through our traditional activities that allow us to invest in future energies. Let's be very clear. I do not want to be a sponsor that is going to be taken to task because we sponsor the Olympic Games. We will not carry out this sponsoring if the Mayor of Paris does not agree with it. Her mail does not mention Total. This is how it was read by everybody else. I will meet her very soon.
I will re-explain to her what Total is doing for new energies, I will hope to convince her, I'm sorry for the collaboration with the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games, but we won't participate. I've noted that our exceptional gift for Notre-Dame de Paris has not raised any controversy because all of the people of Paris welcomed it. Thank you very much for your question. Number two.
Well, thank you. Following your answer, we could suppose that Mrs. Hidalgo, maybe she's not going to be the Mayor of Paris for the next Olympic Games anyway. Thank you. I had the opportunity of writing you on the occasion of the last year, and you answered to me, and I appreciate that. It is not something that all companies of the group do. Direct Énergie, unfortunately, I'm very sorry to say that Direct Énergie does not answer to the letters, does not respect its promises, and there are also some problems in the invoices. There are some mistakes in the invoices.
Well, I take good notice of your comment. The general manager of Direct Énergie knows what's my position, and he knows that in the group, if someone writes to me, that person will receive an answer. Or through someone close to me. Direct Énergie has many new customers. It's faced with a very high level of requests. The quality of the service should be improved, and we are always interested by the comments of our customers because that's what makes it possible for us to progress. I take due notice of the fact that you are not happy with the service. Well, if you want, you can write me another letter with more comments. Please, it's not an invitation for all the shareholders to do that.
We had a discussion with the general manager of Direct Énergie, and I told him that he should answer to the request of other customers. It's important for us to listen to our customers and to try and solve problems. Well, the problem seeing to the success of Direct Énergie is that they are faced with a lot of work. Thank you very much for your comment. Concerning your comment concerning the Mayor of Paris, I'm not going to take any position concerning this. As I said earlier, what I do not want is that there is a permanent debate that could have an impact on the state of mind of the teams of Total. When we are proud of doing something, we do not want to have uncomfortable situations. Number 3.
Yes. Good morning. I'm with Elam Raot, who's from Mozambique. She works for Justiça Ambiental! , the Friends of the Earth, and she wanted to ask a question in English, and I will translate very quickly her question, if you allow me.
Mozambique LNG project. Even before operations have started, the project has led to mass human rights violations, thousands of people being forcibly removed, and the military and private security have come in to protect Anadarko's compound. The last published environmental impact assessment was done in 2014, but there have been many further impacts since. My questions. One, did Total do an updated social and environmental impact assessment before acquiring the project? If so, surely you would have seen the impacts that have occurred over the last years. Why did you go ahead? If not, is Total relying on an assessment by Anadarko, which is five years old? Second, the environmental impact assessment says that just this one project will increase the greenhouse gas emissions of Mozambique by 10% by 2022 and is impossible to mitigate. This is totally contradictory to your commitment to the Paris Agreement.
How do you justify this?
Madame
The last environmental impact study. Thank you very much for those questions. First of all, we are not yet the owners of a share in the Mozambique LNG project, because the agreement with Occidental means that the merger first takes place so that we can be owners. It won't be before 2020. Now, of course, we are aware of what the company, Anadarko, did in terms of impact assessment. We could read this. Maybe we do not have the same appreciation as the representative of the Friends of the Earth Mozambique concerning the seriousness of what was done. Anyway, what I can tell you is that Total becoming an operator in Mozambique, when it will be the case, of course, will implement all the group policies. That is our commitment concerning human rights, for instance.
Human rights, as it is known, is part and parcel of our code of ethics. I was myself invited by the special envoy of the UN to intervene in Geneva to the General Assembly to talk about the Total policy concerning human rights. It is a very important topic for us. Rest assured that we are going to implement in Mozambique the same principles that we apply concerning human rights. Of course, for instance, in the field of the use of security forces, we'll make sure that the principles of the UN are respected, because we ratify those, and we respect those principles. The second question, I'm very sorry to say that we are in strong disagreement.
Natural gas, as I explained, when you think, if you examine the various scenarios for the energy mix on the planet, we will manage to have the 2 degree scenario if we can replace coal that represents close to 30% of the primary energy in the world by natural gas. It is a major challenge. The project in Mozambique should not be considered limited to the borders of Mozambique. That the major project, or projects in plural, because there will not only be the Total project, there will be the Exxon project as well, for instance. The objective will be to contribute to the emergence of natural gas. I'd like to remind you why we are convinced that natural gas is one of the solutions if we want to respect the 2 degree scenario.
It's because when you produce electricity, a power plant with gas is going to emit twice less gases as compared to a coal power plant. We are in disagreement, we don't see how this world could work only with renewables, anyway. It is difficult to store energy. And probably we'll manage to do that in the future, but not in 20 or 30 years' time. I'd like to say that also reminded you of our mission as a company. We have indeed to take into account climate change, but we also have to offer energy to the populations on this planet that need that energy. We have seven billion people on the Earth, one billion have no access to energy. We will be nine billions in 2050, 2060.
We have to offer that energy to those populations so that they can develop, they can put an end to poverty, and they can develop themselves economically. I do not share what you said. Our LNG project in Mozambique is a project that indeed is going to contribute to produce more natural gas, replacing other energies that produce more CO2. Probably there is a basic disagreement in that respect. Once again, I think that in the debate around climate, there is one current mistake. People think that from one day to the next, we can have a scenario of 2 degrees or 1.5 degrees. I'd like to remind you that the Paris Agreement was signed by the countries as a medium-term objective, not an immediate objective. There are the contributions of the various countries that are going to be a total.
In total, some experts talk about 3.8 degrees. It is an ambition we have, we support that ambition. We want to act right now, we also want to develop technologies that will make it possible to progress as required in the future. Believing that one day to the next, it's possible to reach 2 degrees, that we have to stop trying to find natural gas would not be responsible because it would mean that we would limit access to energy for large parts of the populations on the planet. This project in Mozambique is exactly the contrary. It is a way of growing in the field of gas, in 2025, when this project will be implemented, Total will have a gas production that will be more important than its oil production. I think that is the course of evolution we have to envisage.
Once again, you don't have to see energies as being opposed. We are aware of what is at stake when we talk about the climate change, but it is not by opposing solutions that we're going to progress. That's what I can give as an answer to the representative of Friends of the Earth of Mozambique. Thank you for being in Paris. I think that we are only just starting the debate because we are starting this progress project in Mozambique. We are always open to dialogue in order to share our ideas, and I'd like to thank you for starting the debate in this forum. Thank you very much. I'm going to give the floor to number 6. Ladies and gentlemen, there. Michel Coudrin, individual shareholder from Paris.
I observe that the evolution of the brand image of Total in the eyes of the shareholders is there.
As far as the general public is concerned, unfortunately, the image we have is still the old one, like an archaic image. Do you think that this could be negative for our company? What do you intend to do in order to improve it, apart from the fact that you might have some discussions with Mrs. Hidalgo? Thank you very much.
Well, you are just pinpointing something that is true. In some interviews, I sometimes answer to that. When I meet people in my personal life, they think that I'm the boss of the service stations, that is oil. It is not true. Of course, we produce oil, and we're not going to renounce to that activity because it's important. Once again, even in a sustainable scenario of less than two degrees in the energy mix in 2040, there are still 40% of oil.
That oil should be produced, and we think that we can go on doing it in the best efficient way, reducing costs as we're doing it today. We have to convey that message, i.e., that we are not only an oil producer, but also a gas producer and an electricity producer. The acquisition of Direct Energie is an important component in that. In spite of the comments that were made concerning that we have to improve the service to our customers through Direct Energie. We are entering in the home of people with Direct Energie because the contact with Direct Energie is much closer. While the service stations, you have to go to those service stations.
We're going to have a stronger link with people and with Direct Energie that recently was renamed Total Direct Énergie, but we kept the brand name Direct Energie because we want to combine the dynamics of Direct Energie and the seriousness of Total. We announced a net campaign concerning this, the fact that we bring about a responsible contribution to the use of electricity because we try to motivate people to switch off the lights in the home. I don't know whether you see the ad on TV, but it is difficult to fight against stereotypes. Christophe is trying to do that. I'm trying to do it as well. We have to convey the message that we are not limited to oil as Total. We are an energy company.
We produce oil, gas, and electricity. We evolve, as I just said, with the ambition that this mix of energy is going to evolve in the future. People have to start accepting this idea, and this idea has to get rooted in the mind of people. Number 5.
Thank you. Simone on the individual shareholder. Mr. Chairman, Mr. President, you talked about carbon storage or capture. I'd like to recommend an article that was published this morning in L'Usine Nouvelle, that is the opportunistic transition of Total. I have a question concerning Total and the blockchain. More and more, for some time now, we talk about the arrival of energy experts in the blockchain in order to ensure the traceability between the production of green energies and the delivery to customers.
I know that a few years back, there is a Greenflag subsidiary that started working on the blockchain. I'd like to know whether Total wants to go on being a consumer and a client of blockchain or if it aims at being an investor, investing in startups, for instance. My second question is about the oil that is contaminated in Russia. What will be the industrial and financial impact for Total related to that pollution? I'd like to thank the financial director for working so much for Total, and I would like to thank the TotalEnergies Foundation for all the work it does.
Well, thank you. You are right to talk about this L'Usine Nouvelle article. There was an interview, by the way. Now, the blockchain. There are several aspects here. I'm not an expert of the use of the blockchain by that subsidiary.
The blockchain is a way of securing the financial transactions. In agreement with other oil companies, there is a common company. I don't know to whom I could give the floor to give an answer concerning Greenflag. Maybe Philippe Sauquet is present here. He's there? Philippe Sauquet, maybe you can give an answer. I'd like to thank you for giving me the floor. To make a long story short, while the blockchain is indeed a tool in order to secure financial transactions or energy transactions, it is a tool that we follow very closely, but it's a tool like any other. It is a tool that I think has a very specific and substantial problem, that is energy consumption.
As a person responsible in the field of energy, I think therefore that we have to control this kind of use and only use it when it's impossible to use something else. We have to be moderate in the use of the blockchain. But we talk about CO2 storage. We can use some of this. About Russia. There was this pipe, the Druzhba. That's a major pipe because it feeds Eastern Europe and it goes to Germany for crude oil from Russia. There was an important pollution of chloride. The Russian authorities talked about the source, it's very complicated because you have thousands of kilometers of pipe contaminated. You have to empty them, then you have to dilute that. The impact is not neutral for us because the Leuna refinery in Germany is at the end of that pipeline.
It is in Germany. We had two access paths because we had perceived the potential problem with the Russian pipeline, or we can use the Gdańsk pipeline. There was a crisis, and we cannot use this pipeline for some time. It started again this week, so we can feed again Leuna with oil, with that Polish pipeline, but only half to its capacity. I had the opportunity of discussing with the Russian minister responsible for the energy. He called me to ask us to cooperate. That is a question of cost as well, because this polluted crude oil, who's going to pay for its depollution? The figures are quite significant, EUR 15 per barrel, it seems. I think that everyone is looking towards the others to know who's going to be responsible. Quite soon in St. Petersburg, we're going to have the annual summit.
That will probably be an opportunity for me to meet with the authorities. We work actively on that. We are very much concerned by the Leuna refinery. Our trading that's imported is also working a lot on that. We're trying to identify solutions, but the priority for us is to restart the refinery in Leuna and also see how we can be reimbursed if we were to pay some expenses because of that pollution. It's quite a difficult subject because there is also the geopolitical context. It goes through various countries, and the Polish tried to organize a summit a few days ago in order to try and progress. We are mobilized concerning this topic. Now, number four. Good morning. I'm disabled, so I cannot stand up, but I'd like to ask you two questions.
The first one, what's the difference between a gas or fuel boiler to heat houses? Is it more polluting than a car or not? That's the first question. The second question, the second part is that three years back, I asked you a question because I had a fuel company that delivered using a truck. I had 750 liters in my 3,000 containers, so I ordered 2,000. The driver manipulated everything, and in the end, it was only filled up to 1,750 liters. It was not 2,750. I immediately wrote to the company asking questions, and I raised the question, and there is Mr. Michelle to the tour couple who said that the company in the outside representing Total had a sort of book or a brochure telling the owners that the drivers were stealing when delivering, and in the municipalities' buildings as well.
There, there's no one to control. Maybe if I could have seen that paper, I could give it to the tribunal. In fact, I lost in all that. Your first question is about fuel or gas boiler. You know that in the framework of the energy plans, the French government wants, and rightly so, to have a progressive evolution of the fuel boilers. They announced a 10-year objective, and they want to use other heating methods. It is true that emissions due to fuel boilers are higher as compared to gas boilers or heat pumps that work with electricity, and that's the reason why, and because Total is not only selling fuel, but also natural gas or electricity. I just mentioned this a few minutes ago once again.
We have sent a proposal to our customers, not only our customers, all the people who use oil systems, oil boilers, that they can go from those systems to gas or electricity systems. It's quite a difficult issue because, well, personally, if you have to change your boiler, you are cautious. It's quite expensive. You have to invest several thousands of EUR. We have decided to offer to people on the basis of their incomes to get a loan with 0% interest. They can, therefore, go from oil to gas.
I think that if you ask that question, the best thing to do. I see that the relationship with you have some problems with the customer services of Total. We are ready to help all our customers to go to other systems, gas and electricity systems, that, as I said earlier, we can contribute in a very responsible way to the evolution of the energy mix we offer to have a favorable evolution taking into account the climate. As I said in my presentation, our customers must support us. We are ready to help them. Concerning the problem of delivery, you already raised the question. My colleagues told me that maybe it's not really Total that was the delivery company. I think that we can only say we're very sorry to hear about this situation.
Once again, as you said yourself, because of the General Assembly, there is someone in the tour couple who tried to help you. Unfortunately, it's very difficult when there are some dishonest behaviors in the delivery chain. It's difficult for us. Wagram.
I'm going to yield the floor to Wagram B. There's a gentleman waiting to have the floor. Hello, Mr. Chair, Jean Hétuin . I'm an individual shareholder and a former employee. First of all, I wanted to thank you to have had a quiet meeting this year. It allows us to have discussions, including with the Wagram venue. I would like to thank you for this low carbon strategy. Specifically to have met the request of some investors to include in the objectives of the management, including for yourself, a commitment to lower greenhouse gases. You said that in your strategies, there would be an increase of what you call the generation of low carbon energy. You said 15%-20% within the next 20 years for the activities of the group. My question harks to the profitability.
We can see that the price of the share is not increasing in spite of a higher price for crude. Maybe this low carbon energy might make the share more attractive in terms of price. Are these low carbon activities going to be able to grant as much profitability as what we see in the upstream?
Well, it's absolutely essential, the question is very clear for our whole company. We are not a philanthropy. Once again, it's because we have profits and we have a decent profitability that we can invest for the future and for our customers.
Currently, the Gas, Renewables & Power branch has a profitability on capital employed that are above those of the upstream. They are good when we are at $60, not as good when we're at $50. Again, this is a question of the choice of our assets. I'm going to be very humble. For us, it's a issue of diversification. We're going to fail. We're going to succeed. Recently, our solar activities in Japan is above 15% of profitability, for instance. Given the number of countries where we invest, we have countries where solar works very well because there's not enough electricity or there's a lot of sun. The profitability in France is not at those levels. For me, it's a question of managing our portfolio within our strategy. Like for every diversification, we have to accept to learn to find the right levers to improve our profitability.
The concern that you're raising is, of course, at the heart of our concerns. Yesterday, we were able to see the teams of Cadron. They came to talk to us about an acquisition of a small wind company in France that had a profitability above 10%. We can find assets. We need to be selective. We have a learning curve like everybody else. The investment of Total in SunPower wasn't a true success. We're going to answer one of our written questions about this, but when a strategy is clear and shared, and that's the strength of our group, we can be a little bit stubborn and have the means of finding the way to be profitable as we seek to be. Our objective is to have a return on capital employed above 10%, like what we have for the rest of the group.
I'm going to take the question at number one. Gilles Bernier , individual shareholder. Mr. Chair, the results that you showed us, the developments, the projects are fascinating. The revenues are excellent. The profitability of the share is quite good. We could hope, given the high profitability, that the price of the share improves. It's been stagnating for years around EUR 50. Of course, there is a slight increase of the number of shares overall, but that doesn't explain everything. I wanted to ask a question. Why is the price of the share this low when the profitability of the company could show an increase of this price? That's a good question. We don't have all of the explanations. Our revenues are recognized as very good one in the industry. There's about 30 financial analysts that track Total. 84% recommend buying Total shares.
Amongst the majors, we are the ones that is most sought out for purchase. The average of the objectives are about EUR 57, a little bit more EUR than what we have today. I believe that the entire oil industry currently has a multiplying factor that is rather low at this time. We are seen more as a source of dividend rather than as a growth potential, and it's the question of the future of our companies. What we're doing through this low-carbon strategy is to try to map out the future for companies. Today, when you're not a specialist, there's a lot of investors that turn to growth shares like technology rather than oil and energy shares that are more a return on investment. Like Patrick de La Chevardière, there might be robots that around EUR 50 start giving selling orders, and that's quite frustrating.
We were at EUR 54, EUR 55 in August, September, or October. Financial markets are quite nervous at this time. The trade war between the U.S. and China contribute to this, and we've seen the stock exchanges upheavals at the end of last year and beginning of this year, and this doesn't help us. Total's team and ourselves are doing our utmost to demonstrate to the investors that we meet very often that it's worth investing with Total to stay loyal, to take in the high yields, and I hope that there'll be a factor that will trigger an increase of the price of our share. Let's continue to work and remain optimistic. I have not said this, but I must also say that during the first quarter, there was a flow of sales of our shares that didn't help.
The company, Maersk, has finally decided to sell all of the shares from Total as well as GBL, which was one of our historical shareholders. These have had an impact over the past three or four months in spite of the higher price for crude. Number two, Dominique Chauvin, Prospect. Congratulations for your committed and responsible strategic presentation. This shows a turn. Harmony and reconciliation between energy and climate goes through CO2. CO2 is the main concern in its treatment. We need to reduce it up to carbon neutrality. There's a certain number of technologies such as capture, storage, investing in carbon wells. Beyond this, the main issue is the use of CO2. Shouldn't we have the vision of how I should be a part of a new circular economy for energy that looks to use the CO2?
In the strategic presentation, it doesn't seem to me that you've covered this. It is a topic that is growing in importance. It is no longer a prospective topic, but a research topic. I would like to know, what is your research in this field to reduce CO2 from a chemical perspective, capture, storage, your partnership with ArcelorMittal, your ambitions in this field, all the way to the level that you intend to reach, because competition can also be involved in this. There was one word I said, capture storage and valorizing CO2, so it's just CCUS. I'd like to insist on the U. I believe that storage will have its limits, and we need to commit to the use of this. Your discourse is quite clear. Between energy and climate, there's CO2. It is what is left with combustion.
If CO2 is left behind, it's very resistant. It takes a lot of energy to transform it. Marie-Noëlle Semeria, our R&D director, has a priority. I've asked her for at least 10% of all our R&D budget, which is about EUR 80 million, be dedicated to this specific question of carbon dioxide. We have partnered with research organizations such as Stanford on this topic. Last week, I was with the Collège de France with Professor Faucol, who is looking into this type of technology to try to do something with CO2 in circular economy. It is a significant topic. This is a very early beginnings, but if we want a world that is carbon neutral, we need to invest more in this sector.
For me, this goes back to another public policy that we mentioned. That's the question of the price of carbon, because all of the investments in these R&D sectors call for significant investment. If there was a price of carbon in more countries, all of the global players would contribute to accelerate this. Total has several programs. I encourage you to meet with Marie-Noëlle Semeria, who can share those with you. Yesterday, we published a press release. We entered a consortium with ArcelorMittal to capture CO2 through the DMX project in Dunkirk. We will find new ways to limit CO2 and to treat it in this way. Thank you for your question.
When I talk about the strategy of the group, there are four pillars: oil, gas, low carbon electricity, and also the question of carbon capture, storage, and use if we want to wrap up this loop. I will now yield the floor to Five and then Wagram A. I have a question concerning batteries. A few years ago, you bought a company called Saft that produces batteries for airlines. I read this in an article. I would like to know what Total's strategy is for this company and in batteries to understand if there's a market for electrical vehicles. Saft was acquired in 2016 because battery technology is one of the technologies to store energy. To store energy is something that we saw after our first steps in renewables and solar.
If we wanted to draw the most out of the solar capacities installed that we use up to 15% at this point. We need to store this. If we use these capacities plus batteries, we can improve these solar farms and have lower profitability thresholds. This is why we entered the battery system, to develop stationary storage of energy in link with renewables. Since we did this acquisition, we can see that Saft provides batteries to airlines. They are a high technology battery company. They're present in various segment. They also provide batteries for submarines throughout the world. The battery world has really grown with electrical mobility. You've noted that Saft, with our support, have carried out major developments. We've announced at the beginning of April that they were creating a joint venture in China with a company called Tianneng, who is a leader for batteries in China.
This joint venture has become the leader of two-wheeled vehicles globally, China being the largest market for those. We have ambitions with our partnership with Tianneng. It will allow us to access the Chinese market, which is the largest globally, but also to access mass manufacturing. Saft is not an industrialist manufacturing mass batteries. They have limited series. The issue of electrical batteries for vehicles is combining technology that Saft has, and I'm looking at Carlos Tavares, who is a member of our board here, what the car manufacturing industry want batteries that are efficient but not expensive. Affordable is something that Carlos defend. He's right because his own customers are not going to want to face the current cost. If we want to see the vehicle consumers switch from thermal to electrical, Carlos Tavares and his competitors need to be able to have affordable vehicles.
Otherwise, this market will never be born. People are not going to pay EUR 20,000 to have a vehicle. That is not possible. This is a huge industrial challenge for Saft. We cannot go there alone. If we go there, it's in partnership. What we did in China with Saft is important because it allows us to immediately access these plants. I've visited these plants in China, about 100 kilometers from Shanghai. They're very modern, fully robotic, and it allowed me to understand how we could approach mass battery manufacturing in order to be efficient in terms of cost. It is not an easy topic. It's complex. We're talking about very significant investments of several billion EUR. We cannot just make bets on this for political reasons. These need to be reasoned bets with industrialist partners. Switching to Wagram A.
Good morning. My first question is, what is the production level of electricity as compared to the sales? If I'm not mistaken, companies in that sector that are part of the Total group do not produce all the electricity they sell. What's going to be the evolution of the percentage? Are you going to invest more and more in order to be fully independent? Are you going to go on buying electricity, nuclear energy from EDF, for instance? My second question is about the fact that if you buy African assets of Anadarko, what will be the amount of the debt? For the workers of the plant, I'm not one of them, but it is one of the responsibilities of the group.
What are the things you're going to do concerning the remuneration of the leaders, not only you, Mr. Pouyanné, but of all the leaders? That is the physical and mental health of the workers in which you can invest, and also the long-term quality of life for the workers.
Well, the Anadarko debt, the answer is quite easy. If we do that, it's going to have an impact on the debt level, on the gearing of more or less four points. What we anticipate, it will depend on the oil prices, of course, this year. If it's 70 this year, if it is 60, the gearing level would be 22%. If we have 60, we can reach 22.
You can manage that, as I said in my intervention, because with Patrick, we have done things. We have been able to take good advantage of our balance in order to seize that opportunity in a natural way, as we did in this case. Concerning the compensation, you talked about the CEO and the leaders, you talked about the climate, things are quite simple. All the things, all the criteria that you apply to the leader of the group is applied to all the leaders. I think that we have to have all the same objectives. The board decided to change the criteria concerning the respect of the environmental or climate criteria. Then, while concerning the quality of life of workers, there are some actions.
Recently, for instance, there was a big project, Better Together is the name, quality of life at work is a very important element of this initiative. There are many concrete things that are done so that people working for the group, people who contribute to the success of the company, could do it in the best possible conditions. Then concerning Direct Énergie, while we are new, in fact, in that world, we progressed and we did a big jump. In two or three years for France and Belgium, we have between five or six million customers. Our ambition is to be not only a company that distributes that energy, but that produces also that energy. We want to work with renewables, we want to work with gas power plants. We want to have 10 gigawatts.
There is also a debate to give a full picture about to what extent we should do things, because if you distribute electricity in France, maybe it is better to have in your mix a share. While the prices are quite low in France because of the nuclear production, and that is what is called ARENH that makes it for all EDF competitors to have access to part of this nuclear production that was established. We have to take into account that this ARENH principle represents 50%, then the rest is going to be electricity that we will produce ourselves. In that respect, I think it's very important to have a value chain that is well integrated, because the same for the oil is also applied with gas.
We can work with the prices and also we can have the volumes and the margins that allow us to improve the profitability of the chain. I'll give the floor to number 2. No, you already raised the question, I'm sorry. Number 6. Nope. No, only one question per person. Yes, good afternoon. There is a group with auditors, the auditors have a mandate today of 21 and 15 years. These are durations that respect the international standards. At the same time, the duration of this long relationship maybe should invite you to think about things. Well, Patrick, well, he's leaving, so he can say it, his successor is going to continue. Well, there is a change that is foreseen. There is one of the companies that's going to be changed next year. There is a rotation system, in fact.
There are many people who would be interested to be auditors of the Total group, it is part of the good governance of the group and of the standards that we apply, and it is good at the same time to ensure the stability. This rotation is just going to be applied next year. Now, another question. I think that number 4 has been waiting for some time now. Someone there, number 4? No, no one. Another question, vacance B. I think it will be the last question. Yes, good morning to you all. Well, this morning, I've heard that Total bought the quantic simulator that is the most powerful in the world with the idea of using it on molecular chemistry. Maybe it refers to what was said. Material chemistry and the optimization of energy networks. Could you say a bit more about this, please?
Well, the company had also announced that. It's a good thing for them. A simulator is not a quantic computer. A simulator is a tool that makes it possible to do R&D. Yes, we are interested in quantic technologies, we are still far away from there. We are far from having this quantic computer. It's a dream for within 20, 25 years' time. This kind of computer in R&D, as you said it yourself, makes it possible to have applications. Marie-Noëlle Semeria could give you a better answer than me. Yes, we've decided to progress in that respect. The leaders of the group, in fact, have spent three days in Las Vegas. We visited IBM. They said they have the best quantic tool. Exxon is working with them, by the way.
We try to see how these technologies could be applied to our group. There is a basic question here because in our own world, we have many algorithms that we have to process, and we have one of the most powerful computers in the world. When we talk about calculation capabilities and their acceleration, it is a very important topic for us because we would improve the capability for the engineers and others to work more efficiently and more quickly. AI is also very important. We have some 30 engineers in Google in California working on the use of artificial intelligence in order to improve the efficiency of the processing chains for data. In Total, we do not work with old oil. We also use very modern and digital technologies.
The last message is that quite soon we have the project of investing and of developing, and we are going to recruit also because we want to have a digital factory in Paris to take advantage of the knowhow that is very much present in France. The objective is 300 people in order to accelerate the introduction of digital technologies in the Total group at world level. I think that we come to the end of it. No more arms. I am sorry. I said you asked 1 question and, we will have to put an end to this debate. There was one last question. One last in Wagram number A. The lady. Thank you, Mr. Pierre. I think I recognize you. I think that you were on the scene last year. I would like to come back to the topic of climate.
Following the publication of the report of the high panel last year that informs about the important consequences if we have more than 1.5 increase of temperature. Did Total review its objectives in order to keep the level of 1.5 instead of 2? You will have the answer to this in the written questions. I would just like to invite you, what is written, in fact, in the Paris Agreement. In the Paris Agreement, it states that the objective is well under 2 degrees. The scenario of the international agency is 1.7. The calculation is not as scientific as we might think, but you will have the concrete answer because we take into account the Paris Agreement. We acknowledge that agreement as being the objective that we have to set for ourselves. Total, well, it is not only Total.
The Paris Agreement is an agreement for the states and not the individual companies, and we cannot go more quickly than the states. We integrate the public policies, and our first mission is first to provide energy that is more accessible, more affordable and cleaner. That means that we have to respect the planet. To believe that a company like ours is going to do better than what the states can do with the consumers and the citizens. What happened in France has very clearly demonstrated that 1 of the real questions is what is the energy transition and the right, the fair one. We cannot just say there are things to do. We have to ensure the compatibility. There is the need of people to have access to the energy on the planet, and there is also the climate change.
Once again, we recognize the objectives that are established by the Paris Agreement. Thank you very much for all these questions, and thank you for the debate.