Don't the economic crisis and slump in oil prices call into question Total's strategy of attempting to simultaneously boost your production, manage your impacts and secure the future of energy?

Our industry has not been spared by the crisis. The businesses and households that are our customers are consuming less, traveling less and spending less. The drop in the price of oil and gas automatically erodes our earnings. But that doesn't change the fundamental calculus of our strategy: global energy demand will start growing again because emerging economies have enormous needs in the areas of power and transportation. That means that sooner or later prices will rebound from current levels. We still need to diversify energy sources, and international research published recently on the climate, biodiversity and water underscore how essential it is to step up efforts to protect our environment. So the current crisis does not alter our strategic vision - we are still committed to meeting energy demand sustainably.

But in the current economic climate, won't you be forced, like it or not, to postpone certain projects, freeze hiring and focus on cost-cutting and budget-tightening until the situation eases?

Staying in the course despite short-term obstacles is something Total has always done, and our refusal to take a short-term view has led to major successes for us in the past. I'm sticking with it.

Our 2009 capital expenditure budget is around $18 billion, in line with previous years. We also plan to recruit about 8,000 employees in 2009, having hired an average of 9,000 employees annually since 2004.

Our industry demands a long-term outlook, because our projects are capital-intensive, our fields and production facilities have life spans of several decades, and it takes years to develop top-tier oil specialists.

Keeping up our efforts now supports the economy and employment. It also helps promote future energy security by developing the production capacity that will be needed to meet demand.

But staying in the course doesn't mean that we can take our eye off the ball in terms of costs or upgrading our production base to safeguard its competitiveness. For example, Total's Refining and petrochemicals businesses in France are having to adapt to structural changes in demand. We will be investing nearly €1 billion to ensure their long-term viability, which will stimulate local employment. The plan will entail job losses around 2012-2013, but there will be no layoffs and we are committed to finding appropriate solutions for the employees concerned.

Given the crisis, was this really a good time to increase the dividend paid to your shareholders, instead of keeping the capital to invest, conduct R&D and create jobs?

We posted very good earnings in 2008. There is no reason why shareholders shouldn't receive their share. The stock market declines make it very clear that investing is not without risk; we need to retain our shareholders through a reasonable dividend payout policy. I would like to stress on this point that 100,000 current and former Total employees hold nearly 4% of our capital.

It's a mistake to assume that dividends hamper our growth. Both are the result of our strategy's success and the calculated risks that we have taken.

As we deal with the current crisis, our very solid balance sheet enables us to pursue our major projects, hire, and step up our R&D.

Most of the billions you invest go to oil and gas. For example, you are involved in oil sands production in Canada and in developing gas fields in the Arctic Sea, both of which alarm environmentalists. What can you say to reassure them?

All serious studies show that fossil fuels will continue to meet the bulk of energy demand for many years to come. We have a responsibility to maintain and increase our oil and gas production; it represents a not-insignificant 2% of global supply.

Among new resources to be developed, oil sands offer substantial potential; their development raises complex environmental problems that we pay careful attention to in our projects. In particular, we are participating in various R&D programs to cut the water use and greenhouse gas emissions associated with oil sands projects.

Environmental impact is also a major concern in the preliminary design we're conducting for the Shtokman project, in partnership with Russia's Gazprom, in the Barents Sea.

You are also interested in nuclear power. Shouldn't the current crisis act as a spur for you to shift your growth model toward greener projects?

We consider nuclear power an effective, available way to meet energy demand while curbing greenhouse gas emissions. Together with solar energy and biomass, it is one of the avenues we have chosen for eventually diversifying our energy solutions.

It is true that most of our capital spending is currently earmarked for oil and gas projects, refining and petrochemicals; they are the bedrock of our operations. But we are working intensively to secure the future. We have budgeted $7.5 billion for research and development for the period 2008-2013. The production capacity of our subsidiary Photovoltech, a photovoltaic cell maker, is expected to triple by 2012. In 2008, we acquired a stake in a U.S. startup that makes third-generation carbon film-based photovoltaic components. We're exploring second-generation biomass research. And we're innovating to offer our customers more energy-efficient, lower-emission, cleaner products and services. In partnership with a number of research laboratories and industry and university partners, we're working to develop the energy solutions of tomorrow.

The European Union managed to agree on an ambitious energy and climate change package in late 2008. Manufacturers put up some resistance, citing their problems staying competitive with rivals outside the EU. What does Total think?

We're pleased and proud that the European Union was able to reach an agreement on the challenging issue of implementing targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% and boost the share of renewable energies in the energy mix to 20%.

We have created action programs to address each of these goals. To reduce our greenhouse gas emissions, for example, we are working to gradually eliminate flaring of associated gas in our oil production operations and to increase the energy efficiency of our processes through sustained capital spending.

In 2009, we'll be starting up a commercial carbon capture and storage (CCS) pilot in Lacq, France. This is genuinely critical research: keep in mind that, according to the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IpCC), CCS could eliminate 20 to 40% of global carbon emissions.

So you can see that Total is fully involved in the fight against climate change. However, we have a responsibility to point out that the efforts of European Union industrial operators will not be enough if the transportation and housing sectors don't do their fair share in this fight too. Our line of more efficient products and services can help them with this.

Since the problem is planetary in scale, we have high hopes for the United Nations Climate Change Conference that will be held in Copenhagen in late 2009.

Plummeting oil and gas prices have put a number of producing countries in a tough situation. Hasn't the crisis exposed the way oil nations - now coping with lower revenues, undiversified economies, and weak political and social cohesion - have wasted their extractive industry revenues?

This is definitely a tough time for producing countries. They had based their budgets on an oil price of $80 to $100, and prices were only half that at the start of 2009. So they're being forced to cut back or draw on their reserves.

However, we shouldn't let this rough patch distract us from the very real progress that has been made. On financial transparency, for starters: a growing number of countries are implementing the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI).

We consider it vital that our operations help drive local social development. That is our commitment and our best interest, and we have adjusted the way we define and assess our projects accordingly. Several large projects of strategic importance to local and regional economies are currently under way, such as our liquefied natural gas developments in Yemen, Nigeria and Angola.

Some 80% of the staff of Yemen LNG, scheduled to commission its facility this year, are Yemenis hired and trained by Total. In Angola, we financed four new high schools that opened in early 2009. Creating jobs, supporting local small businesses and helping to expand education and health services are essential to building a mutually beneficial relationship with national governments and our host communities.

We are well aware that the tensions in some of our host countries overshadow our efforts. Take Nigeria, where the violence is getting worse, including against oil companies, which are experiencing employee kidnappings and attacks on their facilities. This large country, which is very important for Total, illustrates the challenges facing oil companies. Not just slow development given the high expectations created by oil wealth, but also the limits of the initiatives taken by companies, which cannot replace governments. We believe despite everything that our involvement in economic and social development projects helps ease tensions and make us more acceptable.

There were fatal accidents in your operations in early 2009, and you have also seen your fair share of industrial incidents recently, such as the spill from the Donges refinery that polluted the Loire estuary in 2008. How can this happen in a company with your experience?

The fatalities at our industrial facilities that you refer to are genuine tragedies. They affect us all. Our unstinting efforts in the area of safety are designed to prevent situations that can have such serious consequences.

Whenever there is an accident, we always try to understand what happened and learn from the experience so that it never happens again. And we do everything we can to repair and compensate any damage caused, as was the case for Donges.

In a company as big as Total, industrial safety is a never-ending task for which all of us must feel responsible and accountable at our own level. Our safety performance has improved significantly and still is, but we must constantly remain vigilant as part of a continuous improvement process.