One of the world’s largest oil companies, French TotalEnergies, has announced that it has renounced its stake in Russian gas producer Novatek and recalled its representatives from Novatek’s board of directors. The French concern owned regarding 20 percent of this company.
TotalEnergies said in a statement that it “has begun phasing out assets in Russia while securing natural gas supplies to Europe.” TotalEnergies is writing off the value of its $3.7 billion shareholding as a loss.
The French concern is the last of the leading Western energy companies to remain in Russia following the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. British BP, Shell, Norwegian Equinor, American ExxonMobile abandoned their rates in Russian energy companies, having suffered significant losses. But even following breaking off relations with Novatek, the French company retains its stakes in the gas companies Yamal LNG and Arctic LNG.
A serious problem for Western companies is the inability to sell their stakes in Russian energy companies, since potential buyers associated with these companies are usually subject to sanctions.
