Despite pledges by numerous international oil majors to leave Russia, that’s easier said than done, and US and UK companies are still stuck in their Russian deals, astopped Wednesday Patrick Pouyanne, CEO of TotalEnergies. Who doesn’t think about leaving just yet…
In the days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, British companies BP and Shell said they would divest their Russian assets and halt trading in Russian oil.
The war in Ukraine “made us fundamentally reconsider BP’s position towards Rosneft. I am convinced that the decisions that we have taken as an advisor are not only the right thing to do, but are also in bp’s longterm interest,” said BP CEO Bernard Looney a few days after the invasion.
US supermajor ExxonMobil said it would halt operations on Sakhalin1 and not make any new investments in Russia, and regretted “Russian military action”.
Only TotalEnergies did not announce an immediate withdrawal from Russia, attracting much criticism from investors and activists.
“Everyone tells me that my AngloSaxon competitors are leavingor, TotalEnergies CEO Pouyanne told French radio station RTL today. “None of my competitors left Russia and know how to leave Russia“, he added.
“Should I give up assets in Russia to enrich the Russians we sanction? I’m not giving up because that’s demagoguery“Said Pouyanne, quoted by Bloomberg.
On Tuesday, TotalEnergies shared its views and actions regarding its business in Russia “following the serious and unfounded allegations of “complicity in war crimes” against TotalEnergies”.
The company once again condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine and said it will not provide additional capital to develop projects in Russia and will not enter into or renew contracts to purchase Russian oil and petroleum products “to stop all purchases of Russian.” Oil and petroleum products as soon as possible and no later than the end of 2022.
TotalEnergies said it does not operate any oil and gas fields or liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in Russia.
In addition, the company said that “the current context of European sanctions and Russian laws controlling foreign investment in Russia would prevent TotalEnergies from finding a nonRussian buyer for its minority holdings in Russia. A reckless abandonment of these interests would enrich Russian investors, which is contrary to the purpose of the sanctions.”
It’s not easy to really get out of the Russian market. So far, most of the oil companies have broken away from this, but only in words. Not only that, the fall in Moscow’s oil production, wherever it leads, is causing global supply to fall and prices to rise. We practically hurt ourselves.
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