The French energy company TotalEnergies has updated its policy towards Russia amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and has decided to completely stop purchasing Russian oil and petroleum products no later than the end of 2022, the company said in a statement on Tuesday
"TotalEnergies has unilaterally decided to no longer enter into or renew contracts to purchase Russian oil and petroleum products, in order to halt all its purchases of Russian oil and petroleum products as soon as possible and by the end of 2022 at the latest," the company said.
TotalEnergies will also no longer provide funding for Novatek's Arctic LNG-2 project, in which it owns 10%. The stakeholders question the possibility of implementing this project amid the sanctions imposed against Russia, which prohibit the supply of technology and the provision of funding. However, TotalEnergies retains stakes in Russian assets.
"The current environment of European sanctions and Russian laws controlling foreign investments in Russia would prevent TotalEnergies to find a non-Russian buyer for its minority interests in Russia. Abandoning these interests without consideration would enrich Russian investors, in contradiction with the sanctions' purpose. In addition, abandoning these minority interests held by TotalEnergies would have no impact on the companies' operations and revenues, since these companies have their own employees and are managed autonomously." the company said.
