the French company TotalEnergies is distancing itself from one of its Russian partners, Novatek, while remaining in Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) for Europe (AFP/Archives/Astrid VELLGUTH)
Like BP and Shell and more than nine months after the start of the war in Ukraine, the French TotalEnergies distanced itself on Friday from one of its Russian partners, Novatek, while maintaining its position in liquefied natural gas. (LNG) Russian for shivering Europe.
The French group announced on Friday that it had decided to no longer recognize in its results the 19.4% stake it holds in the gas giant Novatek, its historical partner in the country.
To cover its progressive disengagement, TotalEnergies will register a new depreciation of assets, of 3.7 billion dollars, in its accounts, that is to say the fourth since the beginning of the year relating to its Russian activities.
This brings to a total of 14.4 billion dollars the accounting loss which will be endorsed in 2022 by the French group to cover the 13.7 billion dollars of capital it held in Russia before the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in February. , according to a document released by the group.
Unlike other Western majors, TotalEnergies has maintained its investments in Russia for longer, particularly in LNG projects with Novatek, a private Russian company listed in Moscow and London, which is not affected by the sanctions. Europeans.
The solution envisaged on Friday also plans to withdraw the two representatives of TotalEnergies from the board of directors of PAO Novatek.
This isolates the stake in a kind of dormant cocoon which no longer brings anything to the French group, without favoring possible Russian shareholders.
– Russian dividends –
The group explains on Friday that it “is unable to sell” its 19.4% stake in Novatek “since it is prohibited from selling assets to one of the main shareholders of Novatek” who is targeted by the sanctions. Europeans, Gennady Timchenko, a Russian-Finnish businessman.
The logo of Russian gas giant Novatek, April 18, 2021 in Moscow (AFP/Archives/Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV)
On Wednesday, Britain’s BP said it also still held its 19.75% stake in the Russian group Rosneft, explaining that their sale was “complex” to consider.
In June, the CEO of TotalEnergies Patrick Pouyanné for his part explained to Ouest France that “in the absence of official sanctions” from the European Union on LNG and Novatek, “unilaterally denouncing our long-term gas contracts with Russia would oblige the group to pay 40 to 50 billion in penalties” to the Russians. “It’s not reasonable,” he said.
The boss also repeats that Europe needs LNG all the more as Gazprom’s gas pipelines deliver almost no more gas to the continent.
Novatek, which has existed since 1994, is TotalEnergies’ historical partner in Russia, with a marriage sealed in 2011, followed by the joint launch of the exploitation of the huge Yamal LNG gas field in Arctic Siberia in 2013, in which Totalenergies retains its 20%, and the preparation for the exploitation of a second gas field Artic LNG 2 (10%), today frozen.
Friday TotalEnergies also stressed that its “gradual withdrawal of Russian assets” was done “while ensuring the continued supply of LNG to Europe”.
The Yamal gas field, May 21, 2019 in Bovanenkovo, Arctic Siberia (AFP/Archives/Alexander NEMENOV)
The Yamal field produces 5 million tonnes of LNG per year, intended mainly for EU countries which have cut ties with supplies from Gazprom, the energy spearhead and financial pump of the Kremlin.
Yamal is currently escaping sanctions from Brussels, which will need more LNG than in the past from the spring to fill its reserves and get through next winter, in the absence of the gas formerly delivered by Gazprom.
Greenpeace on Friday criticized the fact that TotalEnergies “still holds shares” in Yamal (20%) and Arctic (10%), two gas megaprojects considered “like climate bombs”.
There also remains an ethical and financial question to be resolved, highlighted on Friday by the economist Maxime Combes, close to the Attac movement, who asks in a press release whether TotalEnergies “will pay back to Kiev the 430 million euros in dividends received from Novatek for 2022”.
For kyiv, these 430 million euros are “stained with blood” and should be recovered to ensure “the reconstruction of Ukraine” underlines the economist, echoing Ukrainian political leaders.
A conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine is scheduled for next week in Paris, with which several major French industrialists are associated.
© 2022 AFP
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