PARIS — French energy company TotalEnergies said on Friday it was selling its stake in a Russian gas field reported this week as supplying fuel that lands on Russian warplanes.
The company announced on Friday that it had signed an agreement with its local Russian partner Novatek to sell its 49% stake in the Termokarstovoye gas field “on commercial terms that will allow TotalEnergies to recover the assets invested in the field”.
The sale was agreed in July and submitted to Russian authorities in early August, and approval was granted on August 25.
This was the day after an article in the French daily Le Monde on the alleged refining of Termokarstovoye natural gas liquids into kerosene for fighter-bombers involved in the Russian attack on Ukraine since February.
TotalEnergies – formerly Total – owns 49% of Terneftegaz, the company that produces gas from the Termokarstovoye field.
The remaining 51% is held by Novatek, of which the French company also owns 19.4%.
Le Monde reported on Wednesday that condensate from Termokarstovoye was being sent to a refinery that had supplied 42,700 tonnes of fuel from February to July which was being transported to airbases carrying Russian planes.
Citing data from financial news firm Refinitiv, he said the shipments could be traced back to Termokarstovoye byproducts.
TotalEnergies initially declared that it had no control over the sales of its Russian partner.
On Friday, Novatek said it denied that its condensates had been refined into Russian military jet fuel.
Instead, they were sent to a refinery for processing, whose products are exported exclusively outside of Russia, according to a Novatek statement provided by the French company.
TotalEnergies also said it was considering legal action to resolve an “unfounded controversy that damages the company’s reputation.”
The French group is the only major Western energy company to continue its activities in Russia.
“We are grateful to (French President) Emmanuel Macron and the French people for supporting Ukraine. In this context, it is a shame for France that French companies support the murder of Ukrainians and the destruction of our cities,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted on Friday.
“TotalEnergies, withdraw from Russia!”
- Editor/ additional report by AFP
