NGO accuses TotalEnergies and Shell of marketing Russian gas
The NGO Global Witness on Sunday accused the companies TotalEnergies and Shell of marketing Russian gas and helping “to finance the war in this country in Ukraine”.
On Sunday, July 2, the NGO Global Witness accused the companies TotalEnergies and Shell of marketing Russian gas, claiming that the latter had thus earned “hundreds of millions” of dollars since the invasion of Ukraine.
“Russia’s exports of LNG (liquefied natural gas) help finance the country’s war in Ukraine and by 2022 are estimated to be worth $21 billion,” Global Witness wrote in its report.
In May again, Shell, the British giant, “bought and sold almost 170,000 cubic meters of Russian gas transported by the tanker Nikolay Zubov”, laments the NGO.
According to Global Witness, three companies marketed more Russian LNG than Shell: two of them are Russian, but the third is the French TotalEnergies.
A legal trade, regrets the NGO
“Despite the war crimes that this trade helps to finance, it is legal”, laments the NGO. “Companies are not banned from marketing 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 were bound by ongoing contracts, although they pulled out of Russian partnerships after the invasion of Ukraine last year.
TotalEnergies says it has “undertaken the gradual suspension of Russian assets while ensuring the continued supply of LNG to Europe”.
TotalEnergies thus “recalls its duty to contribute to the security of Europe’s gas energy supply within the framework of long-term contracts, which it must comply with as long as European governments do not take sanctions against Russian gas”.
The French company also says it has “already sold its activities in Russia, which did not contribute to energy supply on the continent”.
Shell “still has long-term contractual obligations,” a company spokesman said. “There is a dilemma between pressing the Russian government for its atrocities in Ukraine and ensuring a stable and secure energy supply. It is up to governments to decide the incredibly difficult trade-offs that need to be made.” AFP
