French oil and gas giant Total Energy said on Friday it had completed the sale of its stake in a Russian jet fuel company.
The comment came after an article was published on Thursday in the French newspaper Le Monde Reports That “the French oil and gas giant and its local partner Novatek operate a gas field that uses its product, once converted into kerosene, to fuel Russian combat aircraft involved in the war in Ukraine. Terneftegaz, the company operating the field, is 49% owned by TotalEnergies and 51% by Novatek” .
In response to Le Monde’s report, TotalEnergies issued a statement on Friday saying that while Terneftegaz produces jet fuel at its Purovsky plant in western Siberia, it does not have certification to sell it within Russia.
“The entire stable condensate produced at the Borovsky plant from raw materials coming from subsidiaries and subsidiaries of NOVATEK, including Terneftegas, is delivered to the Ust-Luga processing complex in the Leningrad region. The batch of products derived during processing at the Ust-Luga Processing Complex in the Leningrad Region is fully delivered. Ust-Luga includes jet fuel (Jet A-1) that is exported exclusively outside Russia, and does not even have the certificate to be sold inside the country. ”
The company said media reports and calls for an investigation into its activities and those of its joint companies “have absolutely no basis in fact”.
The company then concluded that “No, TotalEnergies does not produce jet fuel for the Russian military.”
Following this statement, TotalEnergies also announced that it had sold its “49% stake in the Russian Termokarstovoye gas field to Novatek,” and that it “continues to implement its own principles of conduct.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Friday called on Total Energy to withdraw from Russia.
Koleba said Via Twitter that his country is “grateful to (French President) Emmanuel Macron and the French people for their support of Ukraine,” but “against this background, it is a shame for France to help French companies kill Ukrainians and destroy our cities. TotalEnergies, withdraw from Russia!”
Earlier this year, TotalEnergies also said it would stop buying Russian oil and petroleum products by the end of 2022 at the latest.
But the company said it would continue to buy natural gas from Russia.
“In contrast to oil supplies, it appears that the logistical capabilities of gas in Europe make it difficult to do without Russian gas in the next two or three years without affecting energy supplies on the continent,” Total Energy said in a statement.
The company said that it will work to fill oil products from other places, especially diesel produced by the SATORP refinery in Saudi Arabia.
Total Energy contracts for Russian oil accounted for 12% of Russian diesel exports to the European Union in 2021, according to the statement.
The company reiterated that it does not operate any oil or gas fields or liquefied natural gas plants in Russia and is moving towards a gradual suspension of its activities in Russia, according to the statement.