PARIS (Reuters) – French oil major TotalEnergies said in a statement on Tuesday that it would no longer buy Russian oil and petroleum products by the end of this year.
It also said it would ensure strict compliance with all current and future European sanctions against Russia, whatever the consequences for the management of its assets there, and gradually suspend its activities in the country.
The firm came under strong criticism after it condemned what it called Moscow’s military aggression in Ukraine, but stopped short of joining rivals Shell and BP in planning to exit positions in resource-rich Russia.
“TotalEnergies has unilaterally decided to no longer enter into or renew contracts to purchase Russian oil and petroleum products, in order to halt all its purchases of Russian oil and petroleum products as soon as possible and by the end of 2022 at the latest,” it said.
However, it said that in accordance with the European Union’s decisions to maintain Russian gas supplies at this stage, it will continue to supply Europe with liquefied natural gas from the Yamal LNG plant as long as Europe’s governments consider that Russian gas is necessary.
“Contrary to oil, it is apparent that Europe’s gas logistics capacities make it difficult to refrain from importing Russian gas in the next two to three years without impacting the continent’s energy supply,” it said.
(Reporting by GV De Clercq; Editing by Jane Merriman and Jan Harvey)
