Good morning. I'd like to invite you to sit down. And I, therefore, consider that the Bureau is well formed. And then as a secretary for this assembly, we're going to appoint Mr. Patrick LaChevadia on my right hand side, who is 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 1,006, EUR 6,000,000 of growth. And for this assembly, we have for some people at least. So this number of shareholders is higher than the program requested to act as a general assembly. It is 1 5th of the action with voting rights.
And therefore, the General Assembly is therefore declared as being valid. So 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. So I'm not going to mention all those documents. And in order to give to this assembly the best possible publicity, this is also transferred through the Internet, and I'd like to welcome all the shareholders or people interested wherever they are. Drou will follow online by being connected by total.com.
And these shareholders cannot directly participate to the voter, but they could express themselves by mail or through the Internet. And I would also like to add that taking into account this the limited size of this room. We have indeed asked to those shareholders to participate to the GEA by connections through the Internet, and they will be in very good conditions to do so. And in order to facilitate your participation, we offer you the possibility to transmit your voting instructions through the Vote Access platform. 1 third of the shareholders use it now.
And we would like to thank them and 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 deliver it today concerning the items that are on Page 4 on the convocation for the GA 2019, a document that you can have that you will have probably received. I'm not going to read various resolutions. We'll do that when we vote on such resolutions. Now I'm going, well, with Patrick 18 and the beginning of 2019.
The operational performance and the financial performance of the group illustrate the strategy of the group. And Patrick will tell you everything about this, all about this. Then Patricia Barbizet, the Senior Director, will talk about the governance of the company, and she will also give information about the work of the Board and its 4 committees. She will also tell you about the Board members, and you will have to vote concerning their appointments. And Patricia Barbizet will also tell you about the remuneration of your CEO.
And then I will take the floor myself in order to tell you about the strategy of the group and the results, the future of the company, its policy as far as the environmental and social responsibility as a company and also the return for the shareholders. So this before we start the debate with you from the room. So that's the program for this morning. But 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. So we're going to submit a video on safety.
We set out to achieve creating the 1st autonomous robot for gas and oil sites, and that's exactly what we have done. EROS Challenge aims at creating robots that are not only ATEX certifiable but 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, very similar, almost identical to the equipment and the modules that we have on offshore installations. And if a robot can navigate its way around Shetland gas plant, then it will be able to negotiate its way around an offshore platform.
The main tasks of the Airbus challenge are routine inspection, where the robot has to autonomously locate and read checkpoints. And then also to intervene in an emergency, we can simulate leaks and 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. And 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, and 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, and we see a great, great future. So I said to the teams, keep developing, keep coding and and keep building your robots. More robots.
Artificial intelligence.
So 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. So I'm now going to give the floor to Patrick de la Chavardiere, who's going to present the results and the performance of the group. So in fact, it would be easier if I had the screen in front of me just for the technical survey. So 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.
Now 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 results for 2018. That is 13.6 $1,000,000,000 That is an increase of 28% as compared to last year or to 2017. This performance is first due to the Explo 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 and C could count on the very good availability of the facilities, and M and 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 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 2018, we have indeed added more than $15,000,000,000 of additional cash flow. And our breakdown even grew before dividend is therefore under the level of 30 dollars per barrel. Now as I've just underlined, these results are due in part to the very important progression of our production of 8% from 'nineteen from 2015 to 2018. And it should be further accelerated in 2019, more than 9%. So 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, 2022 of 5% as a yearly average.
But such growth should not be done to the detriment of our discipline in terms of costs. So 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 And we have already progressed as compared to the main competitors. Now apart from costs, we also have to think about the investments and the discipline concerning costs is also accompanied by a discipline in the field 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 $15,600,000 in 2018 and should remain between EUR 15,000,000,000 and EUR 16,000,000,000 in 2019. More or less 50% of these investments are used for export production, 30% for the new sector that is called integrated gas renewables and power and the rest, 20 percent, 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 MEX Oil, and that is why we should announce very soon the buyout of African the African assets of Anadarko. And Patrick Poullano 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 EUR 6,500,000,000 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%.
Then the 3 main activities that is downstream, R and C and M and S, contribute up to a third of this performance. Our assets portfolio is diversified and concerns 6 big industrial platforms that are integrated at world level. And we also have a strong position of the M and S in Europe. And therefore, we consider that downstream can still positively contribute and strongly contribute to the results of the group. Now this is one slide that we would like to present in totality demonstrates that our objectives are in line with the achievements.
And to end with, you can see that all the objectives that were determined have been met or close to. And the downstream cash flow is only $6,500,000,000 as compared to the objective of 7. But as I said, 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 point 5% in 2018 and of 10% for the period 2018 2020. And at the same time, shares buyout for EUR 1,500,000,000 in 2018.
This is also respecting the objective of EUR 5,000,000,000 for the period 2018, 2020 in an environment of $60 per barrel. Now 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 capital 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. Now just an overview of the Q1 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 these slowdown in terms of prices for hydrocarbons, our net adjusted result has been impacted only up to 4% and is therefore reaching $2,800,000,000 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 percent per year. I would like to thank you for your attention. And now I'll let you discover through some
A general project has contributed so much to the development of the local content manpower. And I believe that subsequent projects will look at agenda projects 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 the opportunity. I am very, very fortunate to be part of it.
Everything that has a beginning must have an end. It's been, for me an adventure, an adventure with a lot of memories. It is very, very special. It's a masterpiece.
After this film on this fascinating project, I'm 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'm speaking to you today as the Senior Director of the Total Group. I have been a Senior Director for 4 years now. I'm 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've 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 4 specialized committee: 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 rule To plan for a senior director in came 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. And with Patrick Poullene, we've 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 conflicts of interest and can also invite the board to a meeting to a full meeting with a third of the member 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 1.5 hour 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 Poullianne, 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 5 topics amongst the most significant that we debated during 2018. In February, we approved the purchase of shares for Direct Energy 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. And in December, the Board approved the purchase of shares in the LNG project Arctic 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 Agena platform that you saw in the video, and 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 Roven, Mr. Lemieres and Mr. Lamarges 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 Roven and Mr. Lemieres. Mr. Lamarghe did not request renewing his mandate, And 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, Gerard.
The board also suggests nominating Mrs. Lise Crotone 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 demanded of Mrs.
Renata Parich coming to an end at the end of this meeting. Amongst the 3 members, the board has decided to has decided upon the application of Mrs. Valerie de la Poppe PD, 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 2 other members were Mrs. Renata Pers and Mrs. Ouelle Vernacre. We would like to thank Mrs. Renata Perich for her contribution.
Mr. Olivier Vernicke, who is nominated candidate by the shareholders, is the 3rd candidate. Following this meeting, your board will be composed of 5 men and 7 women with 5 different nationalities and 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 Hoven, and I am Dutch. I have been a part of the DAS 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 3 years, I've really appreciated the visit of the sites, the last one being north of Russia and Yemen. 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 Lemieres.
I have been a board member of TOTAL for the past 3 years. I am part of 2 committees, the Strategic Committee and the Governance and Ethics. I understand my position as a board member as define 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 Crotone. I come from Canada.
I have more than 32 years of experience in electricity in North America. I was the Chief Financial Officer of Idro Quebec, and I was the interim CEO of an electricity company. I was part of the development and the implementation of strategic 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 TESARO Group. Thank you for your confidence and trust. Hello. My name is Valerie de la Poupartibi. I have been 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 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 Peric. 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 3 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 Groupe Total. I'd like to wish a good luck to both of my colleagues who are candidates. Thank you.
I'm working for Automotive in Germany since 2014. Automotive is an affiliate of the Total Group, and 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. And in Motion Number 11, you can approve the compensation policy of the Chairman and CEO for 2019.
For 2018 and in compliance with the compensation policy voted last year, the fixed compensation was EUR 1,400,000. The variable, which is submitted to the approval of Motion Number 10, reached EUR 1,725,900, which were 120 3.28 percent of the annual fixed compensation. This is a decrease of compared to 2017 that linked to various calculations. There was a criteria for 50% of the amount that was the 3 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 Poulliernet and 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 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 3 years given the conditions of the performance. These performance based shares are with 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.
So this remains identical until 2020. The compensation is made of a fixed income that hasn't changed since 2016 of EUR 1,400,000 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% 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 of profitability of the capital employed, the ROCE, 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 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 a 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 with the 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 Total Finance Health.
I will then 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 and exceptional growth of more than 8% in our hydrocarbon production, an ROE that is a 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 Chevardiere 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 breakeven. 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 Aegina 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. And 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, and 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 3rd field, which is low carbon electricity, in 2018, we've made a major step with the acquisition of Direct Energy.
We are investing in this sector $1,200,000,000 to $2,000,000,000 per year to serve our ambition to become the major of responsible energy. 2018 was an important stage 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 $15,000,000,000 $16,000,000,000 and while continuing to reduce our production cost to reach a level of $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, and 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 we'll 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 3 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 3,000,000,000 barrels of resources that we're going to acquire for $8,800,000,000 less than $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're going to contribute to the growth of our production and our cash flow.
It is also going to decrease the breakeven of our portfolio. And by being masters of our own destiny, because we'll 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. And I would like to now switch to the second part of my presentation and to come back to the 2 long term challenges for our 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. And then energy.
Energy is the key word here. So 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'll come back to the first challenge, the climate.
It's a major challenge in our strategy. We have the yellow vest. We have the citizens' movement. 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 this strategy taking into account evolution of the energy markets, 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. And we've 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 all assets with low emissions in order to try and obtain a reduction of the demand, and we'll try to also use the increase of costs. And we also try to have sustainable systems.
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's 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, and 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. And finally, the 3rd action concerns low carbon electricity.
It is the 3rd energy, and we are 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, and therefore, we want electricity, low carbon electricity to represent between 15% 20% of our energy mix as total in 20 years' time, which will be a major evolution for our group. And finally, the 4th action, the 4th 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.
And we also developed within our group a new activity in the field of natural carbon wells. And from 2020, we're going to invest $100,000,000 per year in the wetlands, the forest and the deteriorated land lands. And our group is, therefore, taking into account the climate challenges. And in February 2019, we've announced our objective to reduce our absolute GHG emissions for oil and gas operations by 20 by 14%, reaching 40,000,000 tons in 2025. We reduced those emissions by 25% since 2010.
And so 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, say that you use part of the variable share of your CEO salary to do that, and it will be the same for the 300 leaders of the group. We are in the low carbon market, and we have a strategy that aims at reducing the carbon intensity of the energy products used by our customers by 15% between 2015 and 2,030. If our customers change their consumption habits in line with 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 1st 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. And in order to make this CSR more efficient and more visible, we have organized the total foundation action. It is called the total foundation at work level. And we base this action on 4 priorities: safety on roads, educating the youth. 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, €100,000,000 for the rebuilding of the Cathedral Notre Dame de Paris. And we are going to make a donation through the foundation. We are the main mess in 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, and that is where you find the roots of the group as well. We've 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 strategy, not only in France, but in the whole world. And I'd like to underline that we did it respecting our code of ethics.
And that is the reason why we've acted through the foundation for the heritage because that organization has no religion religious objectives. We're talking about cultural heritage and not of religion. Another symbolic example of our society action is the one developed towards the youth because employing the young people is also a major challenge for our country. And 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 represents 5% of our staff. That's 1700 young people.
And we also have solidarity actions. The total foundation contributes, therefore, to the creation of 100 school of production in the country so that people can learn to like something when learning at school. And it also created a campus for the future in Saint 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. And it is also an answer to what our workers are looking for.
And I'd like to tell you all the shareholders that I'd 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 projects 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 return for the shareholders. To be a major is important. We create value, but we have to share that value. In 2018, we have generated $40,000,000,000 of added value, more or less.
And as the board announced in the priority 40%, that is $16,000,000,000 have been reinvested in the group in order to prepare for the future. The 60 remaining percent are going to distribute it into 3 actions. First, our workers, our team, thanks to which we have this result there, received the equivalent of $10,000,000,000 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. And all this represents, for 2018, dollars 7,000,000,000 that is more than 15% of the value created.
And finally, you, our shareholders, we have distributed close to $8,000,000,000 either as dividends or as a buyout of shares that is 20% of the value created. So today, I have the pleasure to confirm that the return for our shared orders 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 euro never decreased for 30 years, and 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, but we want to give you visibility through very clear policies on the return for the shareholders for the years 2018, 2019 2020.
I can even say that it was quite a dashes 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 before the period 2010, 2020 as well as a program for the buyout of actions up to 5 $1,000,000 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 €2.556 per action and increased by 3.2% as compared to 2017.
And also, the group bought $1,500,000,000 of actions that is more than what was initially envisaged. And but the price was higher than $60 For 2019 2020, we will do the same. And the project of acquisition of African assets of Analco will have no negative impact on the policy applied to the shareholders, much in the contrary, because this acquisition is going to generate net cash flow starting for 2020 even if we have $50 for the price of the barrel. And 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 60 increase 3.1 percent of increase.
And the buyout policy is going to continue for 1.5 €1,000,000,000 and more if the barrel is changing the barrel price. So that's what I wanted to share with you, ladies and gentlemen. The economic environment is quite difficult. It was difficult in 2015 2016, but we are stronger, more resilient. And we have a good situation so that we can seize 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 Energy and also now the assets of Analarco. 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. And 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 Charvardiere, who is your Financial Director, has been so for 12 years.
It is his last General Assembly. So thank you for his remarkable work, for his constant commitment. And for Jean Pierre Sberg is going to be successor starting from this summer. Thank you very much, Patrick. Well, 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. So that so I'm going to give the floor right away to the auditor in order to present the report to Jean Francois Le Toure of KPMG, so that he can present the various reports established by the auditors. Well, thank you, Mr.
Chairman and CEO. Ladies and gentlemen, dear shareholders, good morning. I have the pleasure to on behalf of the auditors at KPMG NEY 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. So 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. Other reports 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 points of the audit. This year, just like last year, it refers to the assessment of the participation and the amounts to be paid. And we have taken into account the first resolution of Euro Assembly, and we certified 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. Now concerning the consolidated accounts, our report is presented at Page 250 up to Page 353. So we took here into account the specificities of the activities of your group. So the activities, your 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 3 main points. 2 are identical to those already presented in the report of 2017. They refer to the depreciation of the noncurrent assets of Explo and Production and also the incidence of the estimation about hydrocarbons, about proven and developing reserves of hydrocarbons. And the third one is about the activity of the group in 2018.
18. It is about the evaluation of the right value of the assets, liabilities and possible liabilities acquired in the framework of the acquisition of Mexoil and Global LNG. So as a conclusion and in agreement with the second resolution of Euro Assembly, we certify without any reservation the consolidated accounts of the group that we submit for 2018. Now the 5th resolution is about the regulations and the commitments in that respect. There is one about the commitments described towards Mr.
Patrick Poillane, 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 Pojene leaving. Then 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. So this is a summary of our reports concerning the year 2018. Thank you very much for your attention.
I am thanking the Audit Board for their report and their certification. Before I open to discussion, I'd like to clarify the fact that 4 shareholders have submitted written question within the framework of the law: Mr. Carrera, who asked 10 question Mr. Bideguin, 4 question IPAC Association, 1 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, turo.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 these will be available online. The people who have shared with us within this legal framework will receive 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 Chevardiere, 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, so please get close to the people holding the microphone.
If some in Plas Vagram, you have letters, I can see the letter A. I will yield the floor to them later on. I will start maybe with number 2. 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 1st producer outside of Sona Trac in their country. And 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 have 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 SONATRAK has changed recently as well as the minister. So 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 control of Bernard Pinatele, who is in the room was producing about 7,000,000 ton of heavy fuel. We are going to reduce this to 2,000,000 ton through various measures.
We've carried out a lot of investments, especially in Antwerp, where we have invested more than EUR 1,000,000,000 over the past several years. And 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. So 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 EP, 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 average 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 CGA, 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 5.
Hello, Mr. Chair. I have a question that is of a financial nature. Your breakeven being below EUR 30, last year, it was EUR 27,000,000 and you said that you were aiming for EUR 25,000,000 Can you give us an actual value for 2018? And also, 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 is 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 Q1. So 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. So you have all of the cash flow from operations. From this, we remove operating costs, investments, taxes and 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 Vagram room. There's no one, so yes, there is a gentleman. A in Vagrama. Does anybody want to take the floor? I thought you were sitting down.
You weren't standing concerning CELPLIER. 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.
Secondly, there are announcements that are grounded or not grounded as to the privatization of dams in France. Would Total be an app applying for those? Concerning hydrogen, you have not mentioned this. I know that Total is part of a group working with Erlichide on this. Normally, it's one question for shareholders because 3 is a lot.
I have not mentioned Iran because there's no project in Iran, as you know. The Americans reneged on the JCPOA, and they've threatened any company working with Iran from serious with serious consequences. And this would have been an issue with our U. S. Shareholders.
The practical consequence is that we would have spent $50,000,000 in this project. So 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, and we know this country. We have an expertise in South Pars. So we'll wait and see. It's a lost opportunity in Iran, but 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 Orsted, 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 Herrickides. 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 Le Med to make sure that this site is an example in terms of contribution to the fight against climate change. I'm going to give the floor to number 1. Mr. CEO Clementravier.
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 meet 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 organization committee of the Olympic Games and Donnie Estrella.
I've also noted that 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 concern that Total could be sponsoring the Olympic Games against the opinion of the Mayor Farris. So 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, and I will hope to convince her. And I'm sorry for the collaboration with the committee to organize the Olympic Games, but we won't participate. I have noted that our exceptional gift for Notre Dame Le Paris has not raised any controversy because all of the people of Paris welcomed it.
Thank you very much for your question. Number 2? 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. So I had the opportunity of writing you on the occasion of the last year, and you were you answered to me, and I appreciate that. But it is not something that all companies of the group do. Direct Energy, unfortunately. I'm very sorry to say that Direct Energy 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 Energy knows what's my position, and he knows that in the group, if someone writes to me, that person will receive an answer. Of course, someone close to me.
Direct Energy has many new customers. It's faced with 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. So I think you notice on the fact that you are not happy with the service.
And well, if you want, you can write me an offer letter with more comments. But please, it's not an invitation for all the shareholders to do that. But we had a discussion with the General Manager of Direct Energy, 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. And well, the problem linked to the success of Direct Energy is that they are faced with a lot of work.
So thank you very much for your comment. And concerning your comment concerning the mayor of Paris, I'm not going to take any position concerning this. And 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 Ilham Raout, who's from Mozambique. She works for Jussica Abiental, 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. The Mozambique liquid natural gas 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 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.
So why did you go ahead? If not, is Total relying on an assessment by an Adako, which is 5 years old? 2nd, the environmental impact assessment says that just this one project will increase the greenhouse gas emissions of Mozambique by 10% by 20 impossible to mitigate. This is totally contradictory to your commitment to the Paris Agreement. How do you justify this?
Thank you very much for those questions. First of all, we are not yet the owners of a share in the LNG Mozami project because the agreement with Occidental means that the merger first takes place so that we can be owner. So it won't be before 2020. Now of course, we are aware of what the company and a laco did in terms of assessment, impact assessment, we could read this. Maybe we do not have the same appreciation as the representative of the Friends of the Earth, who must be concerning the seriousness of what was done.
But anyway, what I can tell you is that the total becoming an operator in Mozambique, when it will be the case, of course, we'll 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. So it is a very important topic for us.
So rest assured that we are going to implement in Mozambique the same principles that we apply concerning human rights. And 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. Now the second question, I'm very sorry to say that we are in strong disagreement. Natural gas, as I explained, and then when you think and if you examine the various scenarios for the energy mix on the planet, the planet well, we will manage to have the 2 degree scenario if we can replace that represents close to 30% of the primary energy in the world by natural gas. It is a major challenge.
So the project in Mozambique, should not be considered limited to the borders of Mozambique. So that the major project or projects in Pluto, because there will not only be the total project, there will be the Exxon project as well, for instance. So the objective will be to contribute to the emergence of natural gas. And 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.
So we are in disagreement, and 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. So I'd like to say that I also reminded you of our mission as a company. We have indeed to take into account climate change, but we also have to offer LNG to the populations on this planet that need that energy.
We have 7,000,000,000 people on the earth. 1,000,000,000 have no access to energy. We will be 9,000,000,000 in 20 50, 'sixty. So 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. So 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. And probably, there is a basic disagreement in that respect. But once again, I think that in the debate around climate, there is one mistake, one current mistake. People think that from one day to the next, we can have a scenario of 2 degrees, of 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.
And the contributions of the various countries that are going to be a total. In total, some experts talk about 3.8 degrees. So it is an ambition we have, and we support that ambition. We want to act right now, but 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 and that we have to stop trying to find natural gas would not be responsible because it would mean that we would limit the access to energy for large parts of the populations on the planet. So this project in Mozambique is exactly the contrary.
It is a way of growing in the field of gas. And in 2025, when this project will be implemented, TOTAL will have a gas production that will be more important than its oil production. And I think that, that is the kind of evolution we have to envisage. And once again, you don't have to see energies as being opposed. And 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 Oath of Mozambique. Thank you for being in Paris. I think that we're 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 Caudran, individual shareholder from Paris. I observe that the evolution of the brand image of Total in the eyes of the shareholders is there. But 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? And what do you intend to do in order to improve it apart from the fact that you might have some discussions with Mrs. Hidalgo? Well, you are just pinpointing something that is true. And in some interviews, sometimes, the 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. But it is not true. Of course, we produce oil, and we're not going to renounce to that activity because it's important. And once again, even in a sustainable scenario of less than 2 degrees in the energy mix into 2040, there are still 40% of oil.
So 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. But 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. And the acquisition of Direct Energy 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 energy. But we are entering in the home of people with Direct Energy because the contact with Direct Energy is much closer, while the service stations you have to go those service stations.
So we're going to have a stronger link with people and with Direct Energy that recently was renamed Total Direct Energy, but we kept the brand name Direct Energy because we want to combine the dynamics of Direct Energy and the seriousness of Total. So 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.
So 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. And we evolve, as I just said, with the ambition that this mix of energy is going to evolve in the future. So people have to start accepting this idea, and this idea has to get rooted in the mind of people.
Number 5, thank you. Simoron, the individual shareholder. So Mr. Chairman Mr. President, you talked about carbon storage or capture.
I'd like to recommend an article that was published this morning in Usain nouvelle that is the opportunistic transition of Total. So 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 production of green energies and the delivery to customers. So I know that a few years back, there is a GreenFlex subsidiary that started working on the blockchain. So I'd like to know whether Total wants to go on beyond a consumer and a client of blockchain or if it aims at being an investor investing in startups, for instance.
And 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? And I'd like to thank the Financial Director for working so much for Total. And I would like to thank the Total Foundation for all the works it does. Well, thank you.
You are right to talk about this Uzi novel article. There was an interview, by the way. Now the blockchain. By 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. And in agreement with other companies, that there is a common company. I don't know to whom I could give the floor to give an answer concerning GreenFlex. Maybe Philippe Okay is present here. Is there?
Yes, Philippe Okay. 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. So it is a tool that we follow very closely, but it's a tool like any other.
And it is a tool that I think has a very specific and substantial problem that is energy consumption. So 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. So we have to be moderate in the use of the blockchain. Yes, but we talk about CO2 storage. We can use some of this.
Yes. And about Russia. There was this pipe, the drosba, that's a major pipe because it feeds Eastern Europe, and it goes to Germany for crude oil from Russia. And there was an important pollution of chloride. The Russian authorities talked about the source, but it's very complicated because you have thousands of kilometers of pipe contaminated.
You have to empty them, and 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. So it is in Germany, we had 2 access parts because we had perceived the potential problem with the Russian pipeline or we can use the Gdansk pipeline. But there was a crisis, and we cannot use this pipeline for some time. It started again this week, so we can feed again Loina with oil, with that Polish pipeline, but only half to its capacity.
And I had the opportunity of discussing with the Russian minister responsible for the energy. He called me to ask us to cooperate. And there is a question of costs as well because this polluted crude is who's going to pay for its depollution. And the figures are quite significant, dollars 15 per barrel, it seems. So 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. But we work actively on that. We are very much concerned by the Lionel Refinery. Our trading that's important is also working a lot on that.
We're trying to identify solutions. But the priority for us is to restart the refinery in Loina and also see how we can be reimbursed if we were to pay some expenses because of that pollution. And 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.
But we are more balanced concerning this topic. Now number 4. Well, good morning. I'm disabled, so I cannot stand up, but I'd like to ask you 2 questions. So the first one, what's the difference between gas or fuel boiler to heat houses?
Is it more polluting than a car or not? So that's the first question. So the second question, the second point is that 3 years back, R2A question because I had a fuel company that delivered using a truck. I had 7.50 liters in my 3,000 containers, so I ordered 2,000. And the driver manipulated everything.
And in the end, it was only filled up to 17.50 liters. So it was not 2,750. So I immediately wrote to the company asking questions. And I raised the question, and that is Mr. Michel to the 2 people who say that the company in the outside representing Total had sort of book or brochure telling the owners that the drivers were stealing when delivering and in the municipalities buildings as well.
But there, there is no one to control. So maybe if I could have seen that paper, I could give it to the tribunal. But I was well, in fact, I lost in all that. Well, sir, your first question is about fuel or gas boiler. Well, you know that in the framework of the LNG 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 Amico Total is not only selling fuel, but also natural gas or electricity. Well, I just mentioned this a few minutes ago once again. So we have sent a proposal to our customers, not only our customers, all the people who use oil systems, oil boilers, so 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 have are cautious. It's quite expensive. You have to invest several 1,000 of euros. We have decided to offer to people on the basis of their incomes to get a loan with 0% interest. And they can, therefore, go from oil to gas.
And I think that if you ask that question, the best thing to do, but I see that the relationship with you have some problems with the customer services for Total, but we are ready to help all our customers to go to other systems, gas and electricity systems, so 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. But as I said in my presentation, our customers must support us, but we are ready to help them. Then concerning the problem of delivery, you had you already raised the question. And my colleagues told me that maybe it's not really Total that was the delivery company. So I think that we can only say we're very sorry to hear about this situation.
And once again, as you said yourself, because of the general assembly, there is someone in the Tokopon who tried to help you. But unfortunately, it's very difficult when there are some dishonest behaviors in the delivery chain. It's difficult for us.
I'm going to yield the floor to B. There's a gentleman waiting to have the floor. Mr. Chair, Jeanrat Topil. 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 VAGRAM venue. I would like to thank you for this low carbon strategy and specifically, to have met the request of some investors to include in the objectives of the management, including for yourself, a reduction to 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% to 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, and the question is very clear for our whole company.
We are not a philanthropy. And 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. But currently, the Gas, Renewables and 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 an issue of diversification. We're going to fail. We're going to succeed. And 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. And like for every diversification, we have to accept to learn to find the right levers to improve our profitability. But the concern that you're raising is, of course, at the heart of our concerns. Yesterday, we were able to see the teams of Caderon.
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 and 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 1. Jean Grenier, 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. But we could hope, given the high profitability, that the price of the share improves.
It's been stagnating for years. Around €50 Of course, there's 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 its profitability could the profitability of the company could show an increase of this price? As very good one in the industry.
There's about 30 financial analysts that track Total. 84% recommend buying Total shares. We are the 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 EUR 10 more 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 seeing 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 Chevardiere, there might be robots that around €50, start giving selling orders, and that's quite frustrating.
We were at €54, €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. So 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. So these have had an impact over the past 3 or 4 months in spite of the higher price for crude. Number 2, Dominique Chauvin, a 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. But 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 project a prospective topic, but a research topic. And 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. And I'd like to insist on the EU. I believe that storage will have its limits, and we need to commit to the use of this. And your discourse is quite clear.
You're between energy and climate, there's CO2. It is what is left with combustion. If CO2 is left behind, it's very resistant, and it takes a lot of energy to transform it. So Marine Noel Saint Maria, our R and D Director, has a priority. I've asked her for at least 10% of all our R and D budget, which is about $80,000,000 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 College Le France with Professor Fonquale, who is looking into this type of technology to try to do something with CO2 in circular economies. So 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, and that's the question of the price of carbon because all of the investments in this are in these R and D sectors call for significant investment. And if there was a price of carbon in more country in more countries, all of the global players would contribute to accelerate this. Total has several programs. I encourage you to meet with Marine Noel Semallac, 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. So thank you for your question. When I talk about the strategy of the group, there are 4 pillars: oil, gas and 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 Fai and then Vagram 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 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. And 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 Tianang, who is a leader for batteries in China.
And this joint venture has become the leader of the 2 wheeled vehicles in globally, China being the largest market for those. We have ambitions with our partnership with Tianang. 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. So affordable is something that Carlos defend. And 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 Alvarez 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. And what we did in China with S. A. F. T.
Is important because it allows us to immediately access these plants. I 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 costs. It is not an easy topic. It's complex.
We are talking about very significant investments of several €1,000,000,000 So we cannot just make bets on this for political reasons. These need to be reasoned bets with industrialist partners. Switching to Vagram A.
Good morning. Well, 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. So what's going to be the evolution of the percentage? Are you going to invest more and more in order to be fully independent?
Or are you going to go on buying electricity, nuclear and Egypt from EDF, for instance? And my second question is about the fact that if you buy African assets of Anadarko, what will be the amount of the debt? And for the workers of Total, 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. Poullianne, 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 have an impact on the debt level, on the gearing of more or less 4 points. So the what we anticipate, it will depend on the oil prices, of course, this year.
But if it's 70% this year, if it is 60%, the gearing level would be 22%. So it's in if we have 60%, we can reach 22%. And 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 see that opportunity in a natural way as we did it in this case. Concerning the compensation, you talked about the CEO and the leaders, and you talked about the climate, but things are quite simple.
All those things, all the criteria that you apply to the leader of the group is applied to all the leaders. So I think that we have to have all the same objectives. So the Board decided to decrease well, to change the criteria concerning the respect of the environment or climate criteria. And 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, and quality of life at work is a very important element of this initiative.
So there are many, many sayings, very concrete things that are done so that people working for the group, people who contribute to the success of their company could do it in the best possible conditions. And then concerning Direct Energy, well, we are new, in fact, in that world. We progressed, and we did a big jump. So in 2 or 3 years for France and Belgium, we have between 5,000,000 or 6,000,000 clear customers. But our ambition is to be not only a company that distributes that energy, but that produces also that energy.
So we want to work with renewables, and 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 share. Well, the prices are quite low in France because of the nuclear production, and that is what is called AREN that makes it for all the EDF competitors to have access to part of this nuclear production that was established. And we have to take into account that this REN principle that represents 50%, and then the rest is going to be electricity that we will produce ourselves.
But 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. And I'll give the floor to number 2 no, you already raised the question, I'm sorry. Number 6.
[SPEAKER ANTOINE MAIQUES VAN
DEN BROEK:] No, no. Only one question per person. Yes, good afternoon. So there is a group with auditors, and the auditors have a mandate today of 21 15 years. These are durations that respect the international standards.
But 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 is successor is going to continue well, there is a change that is 14. That is one of the companies that's going to be changed next year. There is a rotation system, in fact. So there are many people who would be interested to be auditors of the total group, but 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.
So this rotation is just going to be applied next year. Now another question. And I think that number 4 has been waiting for some time now. Someone there, number 4? No one?
Another question, Wagam 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 quantum 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 at those announced that it's a good thing for them. A simulator is not a quantum computer. A simulator is a tool that makes it possible to do R and D.
And yes, we are interested in Quantic Technologies, but 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. And this kind of computer in R and D, as you said it yourself, makes it possible to have applications. And Marine Noisse, Amaya could give you a better answer than me.
But yes, we've decided to progress in that respect. And the leaders of the group, in fact, have spent 3 days in Las Vegas. We visited IBM. They said they have the best quantic tool. Exxon is working with them, by the way.
And so we try to see how these technologies could be applied to our group. Now 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. So when we talk about calculation capabilities and their acceleration, it's a very important topic for us because we would improve the capability for the engineers and others to work more efficiently and more quickly. And 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.
So in total, we do not work with old oil. We also use very modern and digital technologies. And the last message is that quite soon, we have the project of investing and of developing, and we're going to recruit also because we want to have a digital factory in Paris to take advantage of the know how 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. So I think that we come to the end of it.
No more arms. I'm sorry, I said you asked one question and we'll have to put an end to this debate. I would like there was one last question. Well, one last in Wagaram, number 8. Yes, the lady.
Well, thank you, Mr. Pierre. I think I recognize you. I think that you were on the scene last year. I'd 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'll 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. Well, the calculation is not as scientific as we might think, but you will have a 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's not only a 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 policies, public policies. And our first mission is first to provide energy that is more accessible, more affordable and cleaner. And that means that you have to respect the planet. But 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 one of the real questions is what is the energy transition and the right, the fair one.
We cannot just say there is 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. And once again, we recognize the objectives that are established by the Paris Agreement. So thank you very much for all these questions and thank you for the debate.