World News: French Firm Boosts Profits from Middle East Conflict

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Category: World News - Europe

Published on Monday, 11 May 2026 11:55

Written by Olivier Longhi

The multinational firm TotalEnergies, accused of advantageously leveraging the Middle East conflict linked to energy prices, finds itself trapped in a cabal that should be more about criticizing the economic system than profiting from the geopolitical crisis.

By announcing, a few days ago, nearly 5 billion in additional profits due to the energy crisis itself linked to the American-Iranian conflict, TotalEnergies did not fail to make all the thurifers and paragons of financial austerity and wealth distribution jump, accusing the French oil giant of taking advantage of the ongoing war to enrich itself even more.

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The argument obviously appears to be unstoppable because the surge in oil prices is in fact leading to an increase in the prices of oil and gas products, the latter being indexed to the former. However, if the prosecution is based on an observation that is impossible to contradict, it should nevertheless be weighed by sifting it through another reality. Because the problem lies not so much in the amount of profits as in the economic system in which it is embedded.

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Moral Approach

In a liberal system, as conceived since the end of the Second World War and reinforced in its foundations by the World Trade Organization (WTO), a private company's vocation is to produce profits. This is its function. And the moral approach that results from this is more a matter of appreciation of each individual and his or her own convictions than of an obligation to manage.

To judge that the profits currently received by TotalEnergies are indecent is ultimately only the reflection, not of a misunderstanding of the world economic system, but of a rejection of its design and functioning. TotalEnergies, and other companies, are indeed benefiting from the consequences of the conflict on oil prices and with them various shareholders and investors.

However, in view of the global economic system, it is not impossible to criticize the latter, but it is difficult to mock it even more at the risk of putting the credibility of those who denounce it at stake. If the profits in question were collected by a public company, dedicated to the community, it is a safe bet that the criticism of the profits in question would be less virulent, as the funds in question would then be directed towards public policies.

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Hypocrisy

The lawsuit brought against companies operating in the energy sector thus has a one-off aspect, because once the conflict is over, the profits in question will fall but will remain high, and an aspect that could be described as somewhat hypocritical because more than the companies concerned, it is above all the trial of economic liberalism that should be held. But who really wants that?

To tell the truth, no one because the critical policies proposed seek above all to limit its effects and not to replace it, or even more simply to soften it. Accusing TotalEnergies and the other companies in the sector is ultimately more a matter of windfall for political purposes than of a real reflection on the foundations of the liberal system that prevails today, which is the bearer and generator of visible and observed inequalities when the profits in question are only the consequence of a tacitly accepted economic organization.

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Bio: Olivier Longhi has extensive experience in European history. A seasoned journalist with fifteen years of experience, he is currently a professor of history and geography in the Toulouse region of France. He has held a variety of publishing positions, including Head of Agency and Chief of Publishing. A journalist and recognized blogger, editor, and editorial project manager, he has trained and managed editorial teams, worked as a journalist for various local radio stations, was a press and publishing consultant, and was a communications consultant.