DOHA, June 13 — TotalEnergies chief Patrick Pouyanne hailed a deal to expand production in the world’s biggest natural gas field in Qatar but told AFP on Sunday that more projects are needed and consumers will still have to “turn down the heating” to ease the growing price crisis.
Pouyanne, who has headed TotalEnergie since 2018, told AFP the deal was part of a “success story” with Qatar, where it struck a first accord in 1986. Pouyanne said his company would help build a new LNG train, or production factory, for North Field East but the speed of recovering the US$2-billion investment would depend on market prices.Higher energy prices have gripped Europe with some governments wondering how they will get through the next winter without Russian supplies which are being cut because of the Ukraine war.