RIYADH: TotalEnergies has decided to stop investing in new projects in Russia, the company confirmed on March 1., joining other Big Oil in condemning Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.
However, the French company has not followed its peers BP and Shell and exited the Russian market, potentially losing tens of billions of dollars in assets.
That means it is keeping its 19.4 percent stake in Novatek, Russia’s largest producer of liquefied natural gas.
“TotalEnergies supports the scope and strength of the sanctions put in place by Europe and will implement them regardless of the consequences on its activities in Russia. TotalEnergies will no longer provide capital for new projects in Russia,” the company said in a statement.
Apart from its stake in Novatek, the French firm also has a 20 percent stake in the Yamal LNG project as well as a 10 percent interest in Arctic LNG 2.
British multinational oil and gas company Shell Plc has already announced it will exit all joint ventures with Russian gas giant Gazprom. The British firm also expressed its intention to withdraw from the Nord 2 stream project.
British energy giant BP PLC also exited its nearly 20 percent stake in Russian government-controlled oil producer Rosneft.
With this move, the British company will face a potential loss of as much as $25 billion.
Currently, BP relies on Rosneft for roughly one-third of its oil-and-gas production.