TotalEnergies SE does not plan to divest its Russian assets amid the war in Ukraine, as doing so would essentially mean handing them over to Russian President Vladimir Putin, TotalEnergies chief executive officer Patrick Pouyanne said.
“For me it’s a question of accountability and the responsibility of the offshore stakeholders,” Pouyanne told a conference in Doha on Saturday. “Do I give them for free to Mister Putin? Because this is what it means leaving today and giving my shares.”
The French energy firm earlier last week said it would no longer sign or renew contracts to buy oil and petroleum products from Russia, with the aim to halt all purchases by the end of this year at the latest, and has begun “gradual suspension” of Russian operations, the company said in a statement.
Photo: AP
The war in Ukraine has sent shockwaves through energy markets, pushing oil and natural gas prices higher, and causing many buyers to shun Russian crude. Some of the world’s largest oil companies — including Shell PLC, BP PLC and Exxon Mobil Corp — have pledged to exit Russia, reducing capital available for investment.
TotalEnergies has said it would no longer provide capital for new projects there.
“They do what they want, and we do what we want,” Pouyanne said of his company’s international peers.
BP and Shell have also said they would not make any new purchases of Russian oil and gas, but would not immediately be able to disentangle themselves from the country due to long-term contracts and the difficulty to find alternative supplies.
TotalEnergies does not operate any oil or natural gas fields in Russia, nor any liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants. It is a minority shareholder in several non-state-owned Russian companies. It owns about one-fifth of gas producer Novatek PJSC, as well as a large interest in the Yamal LNG project, Russia’s biggest producer of the commodity.
Pouyanne said his company finances plants in Russia, but that “they are operated by a Russian company, which can do it without us. This plant will continue to produce, whether or not we stay.”
In its statement on Tuesday, TotalEnergies condemned Russia’s invasion and said it would ensure strict compliance with European sanctions, “no matter what the consequences on the management of its assets in Russia.”
French Minister of the Economy, Finance and Recovery Bruno Le Maire said earlier this month that TotalEnergies is not contravening any sanctions.
The US and UK have taken steps to ban imports of oil from Russia, but EU countries have been divided on the issue. Still, the bloc is racing to reduce its dependency on Russian energy sources. The country supplies about 40 percent of the natural gas consumed in the EU.
Qatari Minister of Energy Saad Sherida al-Kaabi said his gas-rich country would not “immediately” be able to help Europe with energy supplies to replace those from Russia.
“The volume we’re talking about — the 30 percent to 40 percent coming from Russia to Europe — is not something that can be replaced overnight,” he said.
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS