TotalEnergies Settles $5m Gas Manipulation Case
French energy company TotalEnergies has agreed to a $5 million settlement with US energy regulators over allegations of natural gas market manipulation conducted by its Total Gas & Power North America (TGPNA) unit and traders from 2009 to 2012. This settlement comes after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) initially sought $214 million from TotalEnergies.
In response to the settlement, a spokesperson for TotalEnergies stated that TGPNA is pleased with the agreement that resolves FERC’s investigation into gas-trading activities from over a decade ago. The settlement dismisses all of FERC’s claims and allegations against TGPNA. TotalEnergies has maintained that it acted lawfully throughout the process and is satisfied to put this matter behind them.
As part of the settlement, the TotalEnergies unit will pay $5 million as restitution to specific non-governmental organizations, in accordance with the FERC’s order. The FERC’s investigations mainly focused on trading strategies described as loss leader or leveraged trading, where traders accept losses in one market to benefit larger positions in a financial index or benchmark.
Overall, this settlement reflects a conclusion to a lengthy process involving allegations of market manipulation, and TotalEnergies has now resolved the matter through a financial settlement and restitution to designated organizations.
