* Total says will not renew API membership
* French firm's policies only 'partially align' with the API
* Total, BP, Shell already quit U.S. refining group AFPM
(Adds background)
By Ron Bousso
LONDON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - France's Total on
Friday became the first major global energy company to quit the
main U.S. oil and gas lobby due to disagreements over its
climate policies and support for easing drilling regulations.
Total said it would not renew its 2021 membership with the
American Petroleum Institute (API) following a review of the
lobby's climate positions, describing them as being only
"partially aligned" with Total's.
Its withdrawal from the API, the most powerful U.S. oil and
gas lobby, comes ahead of sweeping changes in policy direction
in the United States, with incoming President Joe Biden
promising to tackle climate change and bring the country to
net-zero emissions by 2050.
It puts pressure on Total's European rivals BP and
Royal Dutch Shell to follow suit after resisting the
move in recent year.
It also highlights a widening rift between Europe's top
energy companies which over the past year accelerated plans to
cut emissions and build large renewable energy businesses and
their U.S. rivals Exxon Mobil and Chevron that
have largely resisted growing investor pressure to
diversify.
Total said it was withdrawing from the API due to the
industry group's support for last year's rollback of U.S.
regulation on emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas, for
its differing views on how to assign a price to carbon, seen as
critical for curbing emissions, as well its lack of support for
subsidies for electric vehicles.
"As part of our climate ambition made public in May 2020, we
are committed to ensuring, in a transparent manner, that the
industry associations of which we are a member adopt positions
and messages that are aligned with those of the Group in the
fight against climate change", Total Chief Executive Patrick
Pouyanné said.
The API is recognized for industry safety standards and
practices that are considered the global standard. European oil
companies have in the past pointed to its role in formulating
industry standards as their rationale for remaining with the
group.
The industry group thanked Total for its membership, but
noted that it does not support subsidies for energy, saying it
distorts markets.
"We believe that the world's energy and environmental
challenges are large enough that many different approaches are
necessary to solve them, and we benefit from a diversity of
views," the API said.
The group has defended its record on tackling carbon
emissions, noting that the industry's technological advances
have helped it cut carbon dioxide and methane emissions rates in
large oil-producing regions.
Total last year announced plans to cut its carbon emissions,
with the aim of reaching net zero emissions from its operations
and its energy products sold to customers in Europe by 2050 or
sooner.
Investors said Total's move may force the hand of other
European majors like BP and Shell.
"There is simply no justification for any association with
lobby groups who roll back emissions regulations and undermine
urgent climate action," said Jeanett Bergan, head of responsible
investment at KLP, Norway's largest pension fund, which manages
$80 billion in assets.
Total's operations in the United States include a number of
offshore oil and gas fields in the Gulf of Mexico, a major
refining and petrochemical plant in Port Arthur, Texas, as well
as renewable energy businesses. The company produced about
343,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in the third quarter
in the Americas.
MORE SIGNIFICANT
Europe's top energy companies have outlined plans to curb
emissions and boost renewable energy output following years of
growing investor pressure.
Total, BP and Shell have already pulled out of the American
Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM), a U.S. oil refining
group, also due to differences over climate policies.
Until Friday, those companies had elected to remain in the
API. BP and Shell were not immediately available for comment on
Friday.
Norway's Equinor, in a statement, said as of last
year, it remained a member of API despite some differences on
climate policies. It is currently reviewing its memberships, the
company said.
Andrew Logan, director for oil and gas programmes and clean
energy investor group CERES, said the announcement was
significant and would put pressure on other European oil majors.
"Given the size and influence of API, this is a much more
significant move than previous decisions to pull out of more
niche trade groups like AFPM. I think that we will see other
companies follow suit," Logan said.
(Reporting by Ron Bousso, Matthew Green and Shadia Nasralla in
London, Nerijus Adomaitis in Oslo, and Valerie Volcovici in
Washington; editing by Jan Harvey, Jason Neely, Jane Merriman,
Marguerita Choy and Louise Heavens)
