War in Ukraine: Shell and Total Energy accused of selling Russian gas

TotalEnergies and Shell Funding Russia’s War in Ukraine? On Sunday, Global Witness, an NGO, accused France’s TotalEnergies and Britain’s Shell of selling Russian gas and said the latter had made “hundreds of millions” of dollars in doing so since its invasion of Ukraine.

“LNG export (liquefied natural gas) from Russia are helping finance that country’s war in Ukraine, and are worth an estimated $21 billion in 2022,” Global Witness said in a report.

Global Witness “estimated that Shell made hundreds of millions of dollars selling Russian LNG last year.” Also in May, the British giant “bought and sold almost 170,000 cubic meters of Russian gas transported by tankers.” Nikolai Zubov “, regrets the NGO.

“Europe must act”

According to Global Witness, three companies have sold more Russian LNG than Shell: two are Russian and the third is French TotalEnergies. “Despite the war crimes this trade helps fund, it is legal,” Global Witness laments.

“Companies are not banned from selling Russian gas, and unlike the US, neither the EU nor the UK has banned the import of Russian gas,” she continues. “The UK and EU member states must act. »

Asked by AFP, Shell and TotalEnergies said they are bound by current contracts, although they abandoned their partnership with Russia after invading Ukraine last year. Shell “still has long-term contractual obligations,” a company spokesman said.

Energy security in question

“There is a dilemma between pressuring the Russian government for its atrocities in Ukraine and ensuring a stable and reliable energy supply. Governments must decide on the incredibly difficult trade-offs that need to be made.” For its part, TotalEnergies says it has “implemented a gradual suspension of Russian assets while ensuring the continued supply of LNG to Europe.”

TotalEnergies “thus recalls its obligation to contribute to the security of Europe’s gas supply (…) through long-term contracts that it must comply with until European governments impose sanctions on Russian gas.”

The French company also claims that it “already sold its activities in Russia, which did not contribute to the energy supply of the continent.”