The French group announced Wednesday to withdraw a little more from the gigantic Arctic LNG 2 liquefied gas production site project in Siberia.
TotalEnergies, subject to criticism for remaining in Russia, has begun “a beginning of a retreat” by announcing on Wednesday a depreciation of 4.1 billion dollars of assets concerning in particular the Arctic LNG 2 project. This liquefied gas project is made uncertain by the sanctions imposed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine, a- he explains.
The “New bans pose additional risks to the execution capacity of the Arctic LNG 2 project. As a result, TotalEnergies has decided to provision as of March 31 an amount of 4.1 billion dollars relating in particular to Arctic LNG 2”indicates the group in a press release, indicating there “the beginning of a retreat”according to a spokesperson.
This gigantic Arctic LNG 2 production site, of which the company owns 10%, was to make its first delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Siberia in 2023.
TotalEnergies had already taken some distance from Russia, a strategic country for it, by announcing in March that it would renounce all purchases of Russian oil, diesel and petroleum products by the end of the year at the latest. He had also announced that he would no longer provide capital for new projects there. However, it has not withdrawn from this country in which it has been established since the beginning of the 1990s, and where it produces 16.6% of its hydrocarbons, and even 30% for gas alone.
The group is a 19.4% shareholder in the Russian gas giant Novatek and holds a 20% stake in the Yamal LNG gas field, a project launched at the end of 2017 in the Russian far north and which has produced more than 18 million tonnes. of LNG in 2020.
For him, it would be counterproductive to abandon these stakes, he had previously explained, failing to find a non-Russian buyer to buy them in the current context.. “Abandoning these participations without financial compensation would therefore contribute to enriching Russian investors in contradiction with the very purpose of the sanctions”the company explained in March.
TotalEnergies has been the subject of strong criticism for its maintenance, the environmentalist presidential candidate Yannick Jadot having even accused it of “complicity in war crimes”. The multinational had announced defamation lawsuits.