CERAWEEK-TotalEnergies CEO talk briefly interrupted by protestor

By Ron Bousso

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A protestor briefly interrupted an on-stage discussion with France's TotalEnergies Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne at an energy industry conference in Houston on Wednesday.

The protestor unfurled a banner and shouted "stop your greenwashing and lies."

The banner said "Stop EACOP and Rio Grande LNG," a reference to an oil pipeline project in East Africa and a U.S. gas export project in Texas.

She was ushered away before the on-stage discussion between Pouyanne and U.S. energy historian Daniel Yergin continued.

Energy executives are regularly targets of protestors for producing the fossil fuels that have accelerated global warming.

The CERAWeek energy conference is the biggest annual gathering of oil executives and officials and takes place in Houston, the capital of the U.S. energy industry.

At an energy industry conference in London last week, protestors blocked the entrance to the venue in the center of the city, interrupted panels and triggered the evacuation of participants form a dinner at the end of the event.

Pouyanne said that the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act, President Joe Biden's signature $430 billion climate law, was exactly what Europe should do. The IRA included $370 billion of incentives to accelerate the deployment of clean energy in the United States.

The passage of the IRA last year caused tension with European Union leaders for clauses that tied the incentives to requirements for content that was made in the United States.

Pouyanne said Europe's low-carbon regulations are too complex and should be simple and incentivising.

(Reporting by Ron Bousso; Writing by Simon Webb; Editing by Marguerita Choy)