TotalEnergies expects to pay $30 billion in taxes worldwide in 2022

PARIS (Reuters) -French energy major TotalEnergies expects to pay about $30 billion in terms of taxes and production taxes worldwide this year, its chief executive Patrick Pouyanne told a French parliament committee hearing.

Pouyanne said that compared with $16 billion paid in 2021 and $6 billion in 2020.

Pouyanne was speaking as a debate rages in Franxe and other European countries over whether oil companies that are making huge profits because of the energy crisis should pay additional taxes.

TotalEnergies has been criticised by some activists in France for holding on to many of its assets in Russia despite the invasion of Ukraine.

Environment media outlet Basta reported in July that the group had paid no taxes for its French companies in 2019 and 2020.

Pouyanne told the hearing that he expected that TotalEnergies would pay taxes on its profits earned in France this year.

(Reporting by Benjamin Mallet and GV De Clercq; editing by Silvia AloisiEditing by Sudip Kar-Gupta)