Pouyanné, who last month floated the idea of a New York listing for the company, told shareholders there was “no question” of TotalEnergies leaving France.

He said in April that there was “a case” to move from the Paris CAC 40 index to New York in search of higher valuations and larger markets.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, asked by Bloomberg if he would be “happy” with such a move, responded: “Not at all and I would be very surprised.”

Sounds like market manipulation to me.