One of the Russian partners of TotalEnergies participates in the manufacture of kerosene sent to the air bases from which took off the planes which notably bombarded the theater of Mariupol, last March. This is revealed by the investigation by the NGO Global Witness and the newspaper The world.
While the group has withdrawn from certain activities in Russia, TotalEnergies keeps a foothold in the gas sector, but not by running installations. It is in the form of capital that it remains committed to Russian companies which are the operators in the field: Ternefetgaz, of which it holds 49%, and Novatek, its partner in Ternefetgaz, up to 19.4%.
There are also the two gas fields in Russia’s far north, Yamal and Arctic LNG 2, which TotalEnergies owns 20% and 10% respectively, and which are considered the jewel in the group’s Russian crown. This allows the group to collect the profits from the sale of liquefied natural gas to Asia and Europe, where Russian gas is always welcome.
But if TotalEnergies remains in Russia, it is also because the French company has made it the cornerstone of its energy transition strategy thanks to gas. It alone represents a fifth of its hydrocarbon reserves. TotalEnergies has invested 40 billion euros in the two gas fields. This was the bet of its former CEO, Christophe de Margerie (died in Moscow in October 2014).
The group says keeping its stakes is the best way to enforce international sanctions because otherwise they would fall into the hands of Kremlin-linked oligarchs. But there is another reason: Vladimir Putin will not last forever and TotalEnergies does not intend to let its competitors reap the benefits it believes it has sown.
TotalEnergies has successfully withdrawn from certain activities. Coming under media and political pressure after the withdrawal decisions of several competitors such as Shell or BP for example, the group publicly condemned “Russia’s military aggression”. It has decided to no longer provide capital for future development projects, including in the Arctic LNG 2 gas field still under construction.
Last March, TotalEnergies announced that it was withdrawing from its oil activities, which will be subject to sanctions at the end of the year. On that date, he promised to stop importing Russian petroleum products. This is indeed a withdrawal, but in a field of minority activity for the group in the country. To compensate, he turned to other suppliers.
TotalEnergies is not the only French group to still be present in Russia. This also concerns around twenty large French companies such as Auchan hypermarkets, Leroy Merlin stores and even Jacques Dessange hair salons. The government does not demand their departure and just asks to comply with the international sanctions taken against Russia, particularly in the oil field.
However, Renault, Sodexo or Société Générale still decided to leave the country at the cost of heavy financial losses. Michelin, which still has a thousand employees in Russia, is also preparing to withdraw by the end of the year.