Why Does This Oil Giant Keep Buying Utility Assets
Total SA (NYSE: TOT) is one of the world's largest integrated oil companies. However, you wouldn't know it from some of its recent acquisitions in the utility space. The company isn't exactly looking to get out of the oil business, but it is attempting to prepare for an energy future that is very different from the one that exists today. Here's what investors should make of its purchase of electricity assets from Energías de Portugal.
The world needs oil and natural gas, which is something that most major integrated energy companies agree on. The two fuels are so integrated into the world's energy needs that it will take a material amount of time to dislodge them. ExxonMobil, for example, has noted that it took 100 years for oil to take over from coal as the world's most important energy source. And coal is really only just falling to the wayside as renewable power sources become more economic.
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Source Fool.com
