TotalEnergies will no longer provide capital for new projects in Russia, according to the company's release.
TotalEnergies SE has held talks with the French government over its continuing operations in Russia, after BP Plc and Shell Plc announced they would exit the country.
The French government has been discussing the issue and TotalEnergies Chief Executive Officer Patrick Pouyanne is “perfectly aware of the gravity of the situation,” French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said in an interview on CNews Television on Tuesday. “It is a question of principle.”
A decision on the company’s operations in Russia will be taken over the coming days, Le Maire said. The government has also held talks with Engie SA over its links with the country, but that situation is “a little different,” he said.
Shell’s move to exit a stake in the Sakhalin-2 LNG project, an investment that dates back to the Yeltsin era, follows BP Plc’s announcement on Sunday that it will walk away from a holding in Russia’s state oil producer, Rosneft PJSC.
Their decisions put pressure on remaining foreign investors, including Exxon Mobil Corp. and TotalEnergies, to follow suit.
TotalEnergies has operations in Russia representing around $1.5 billion of its total cash flow, or around 5%. It owns roughly a fifth of gas producer Novatek as well as a large interest in the Yamal LNG project, Russia’s biggest producer of liquefied natural gas. It also has a 10% in the future Arctic LNG 2 development.
Engie’s main Russian connection is a stake in the Nord Stream gas pipeline, and a loan it provided to Nord Stream 2, a project that has already been suspended by the German authorities.
About TotalEnergies
Active in more than 130 countries, TotalEnergies is a global multi-energy company that produces and markets energies: oil and biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables and electricity.