A $5bn green hydrogen project developed by a joint venture (JV) between TotalEnergies and Indian conglomerate Adani has been put on hold amid controversy over the latter’s finances, the French major’s CEO, Patrick Pouyanne, told a company results call. But he defends both the company’s partnership with Adani and the wider strategy of collaborating with local firms to enter new renewables and clean energy markets.

Adani was accused of stock manipulation and accounting fraud by short-seller Hindenburg Research last month and has since seen its market value fall by more than $100bn.

“We have an exposure which is quite limited, at $3-3.1bn,” Pouyanne says. He remains confident that the conglomerate and its CEO, Gautam Adani, will emerge as simply “taking care of his business in a smart way”, and defends TotalEnergies’ current investments in subsidiaries such as Adani Green.

“Finding the right partners is the right way” Pouyanne, TotalEnergies

However, Pouyanne confirms that “the hydrogen project which was discussed will be put on hold, as long as we do not have clarity on all that side”. TotalEnergies announced last year that it would take a 25pc stake in Adani New Energies, which planned to invest $5bn in a 1mn t/yr green hydrogen plant to provide feedstock for urea production.

But while the Adani hydrogen JV has been shelved, Pouyanne confirms that TotalEnergies will continue its strategy of partnerships in order to enter renewables and clean energy markets.

“At the end, the question is a more strategic one. Do we need to do it [on] our own or not?” he says, noting that the renewables markets in India “or even in Brazil” are overly complex for the major to enter individually. “Finding the right partners is the right way.”

TotalEnergies has most recently announced a JV with industrial gases firm Air Liquide to develop a hydrogen refuelling network throughout central Europe.

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Author: Polly Martin