France’s TotalEnergies, one of the world’s largest LNG players and a shareholder in independent producer Novatek, said on Tuesday it would “no longer provide capital for new projects” in Russia.
The company said in a statement it “condemns Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, which has tragic consequences for the population and threatens Europe.”
“TotalEnergies expresses its solidarity with the Ukrainian people who are suffering the consequences and with the Russian people who will also suffer the consequences,” the company said.
The firm “supports the scope and strength of the sanctions put in place by Europe and will implement them regardless of the consequences (currently being assessed) on its activities in Russia,” it said.
TotalEnergies did not provide any additional information.
Besides a 19.4 percent interest in Russian LNG exporting giant Novatek, TotalEnergies also holds 20 percent in Novatek’s Yamal LNG project and 21.64 percent of the Arctic LNG 2 development that should start first exports next year.
TotalEnergies also buys LNG from the Yamal project for onward delivery to Europe and China.
The company’s announcement follows moves by its peers Shell, BP, Equinor to exit their businesses in Russia.
Shell said on Monday it would exit its joint ventures with Russia’s Gazprom and related entities, including its 27.5 percent stake in the Sakhalin-2 LNG export terminal.
BP also previously said it would exit its 19.75 percent shareholding in Russia’s Rosneft.