Is the French group TotalEnergies taking advantage of the war in Ukraine to generate colossal profits? In a survey published on Wednesday August 24, The world claims that part of the oil giant’s production supplies kerosene to Russian military air bases, whose planes bomb the Ukrainian civilian population. At the heart of the investigation, the Russian oil company Terneftegaz, co-owned by TotalEnergies and Novatek, a Russian company run by a close friend of Vladimir Putin. The French group denies the information published by The world. Here’s what we know about the daily revelations.
Terneftegaz, in which TotalEnergies is a shareholder, supplies two Russian military bases
Terneftegaz is 49% owned by TotalEnergies and 51% by its Russian partner Novatek, as can be read on the French oil company’s website (link in English). This company is a private enterprise, but one of its main shareholders, Gennadi Timchenko, who owns 23% of the company’s shares, is presented by the newspaper as “an old acquaintance of Vladimir Putin”. The Russian shareholder is one of the personalities targeted by European and British sanctions.
“Three French people still sit on the board of directors of Novatek, including two leaders of TotalEnergies and Emmanuel Quidet, the founder and current president of the Franco-Russian Chamber of Commerce”adds The world. The composition of this board of directors (link in English) is available online. They include Arnaud Le Foll, director of the North Sea and Russia of TotalEnergies, and Dominique Marion, general manager of TotalEnergies Exploration and production in Russia.
The world explains in his investigation that he was able, thanks to the NGO Global Witness and the financial database Refinitiv “tracing the supply chain” between Terneftegaz and two Russian military airbases, Morozovskaya and Malchevo. The Russian oil company operates a field from which gas condensates are extracted, a liquid hydrocarbon transformed into fuel in a refinery located in Omsk, before being delivered to these bases near the Ukrainian border.
The planes of these two Russian bases bombard the Ukrainian civilian population
The two Russian military bases are accused by the NGOs Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch of being responsible for multiple strikes on the Ukrainian civilian population and in particular the bombardment of the Mariupol theater on 16 March. According The worldmost of the bombardments that hit Mariupol were carried out by fighter planes from the Morozovskaya base, 350 kilometers away.
According to Refinitiv data, two days before the start of the war, and for the first time in five years, the Morozovskaya base was supplied with kerosene from the Omsk refinery. Since then, Terneftegaz has continued to supply this military base “on a multi-weekly basis”reports The world. As for the Malchevo air base, it also gets its kerosene from the Omsk refinery.
TotalEnergies made windfall profits in 2022
TotalEnergies is singled out for the colossal profits it has made since the start of the war in Ukraine. The group announced that it had generated “a record profit of 5.7 billion dollars (5.72 billion euros) in the second quarter of 2022”reports The world. A sum 2.5 times greater than in the same quarter of 2021. “Superprofits” on which French left-wing deputies are asking for the establishment of a tax.
TotalEnergies is the only major European oil group to have maintained its hydrocarbon exploitation operations in Russia. For oil giants like Shell, BP or ENI, this withdrawal has led to colossal losses. The French company invokes the need to export gas to Europe to justify maintaining its presence in Russia.
TotalEnergies denies any involvement
After the publication of the survey WorldTotalEnergies denied in a press release all the accusations against it: “No, TotalEnergies does not produce kerosene for the Russian military. No, TotalEnergies is in no way associated with the supply of fuel to Russian military aviation in any form.”
TotalEnergies denies having any operational power in Terneftegaz and stresses that the majority shareholder is Novatek, with 51% of the shares. “It is Novatek that operates this company with its own staff”, advances the group. In addition, the French giant says it does not have “provided no financing to Terneftegaz since 2015” and not perceive “dividends from this company since February 2022”. For TotalEnergies, the profits generated by its activities are therefore unrelated to this company.